Understanding the value of electronic health data among health sector stakeholders

Start Date

16 January 2020

End Date

29 June 2020

Project Participants

Lorica Health, University of Sydney

Status: Completed

Tags: benchmarking, data analytics, data literacy, electronic health records, general practice, health insurance, patient reported outcomes, performance feedback, primary care, quality and safety, sector engagement, specialist care

Opportunity 

Australia’s health system generates increasing volumes of electronic information, including health records, administrative data, private health insurance claims, registries and patient-generated data. 

However, data availability alone does not improve care. At the commencement of this project, general practitioners and specialists had limited visibility of cost and quality information about their own practice or that of their peers. Clinicians need information they can trust, interpret efficiently and connect to practical decisions.  

This project examined how electronic health data could be used more effectively for health sector stakeholders. 

Objectives 

The project sought to explore clinicians’ attitudes towards using administrative health data for performance feedback, and better understand their data literacy and ability to interpret performance information.

An environmental scan mapped relevant evidence, researchers, organisations and digital products in healthcare transparency. The project then engaged general practitioners and medical specialists through interviews and focus groups to produce a report on the value of electronic health data among health sector stakeholders. It found that participants were interested in increased visibility of cost or quality health data, particularly quality data for individual practice reflections. At the same time, they raised concerns about the quality of electronic health data and whether it could adequately reflect clinical complexity to fairly attribute outcomes. The project identified data quality, risk adjustment, data literacy, time pressure and trust as central factors affecting adoption. 

The project provides evidence for designing electronic health-data products for decision support that are seen by clinicians as more usable, trustworthy and relevant to clinical practice. It can inform digital health developers’ approaches to designing transparency initiatives that give clinicians, consumers, policymakers, health organisations, or insurers greater visibility of cost and quality while recognising the need for careful interpretation and responsible communication.

Integrity, Excellence,
Teamwork and Authenticity

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