Volume 199 - Issue 4
The Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health (BEACH) program: where to from here?
Author: Lynn M Weekes
Med J Aust 2013; 199 (4): 240. || doi: 10.5694/mja13.10235
Published online: 2 September 2013
Published online: 2 September 2013
To the Editor: I would like to endorse the call for better health data standards across Australia.1 However, while standardisation is a long-term goal, we at NPS MedicineWise believe that more can be done now, even with current limitations.
NPS MedicineWise has recently embarked on an ambitious program called MedicineInsight to gather anonymised patient data from 500 general practices (equating to about 2 million patients) on an ongoing ...
To the Editor: I would like to endorse the call for better health data standards across Australia.1 However, while standardisation is a long-term goal, we at NPS MedicineWise believe that more can be done now, even with current limitations.
NPS MedicineWise has recently embarked on an ambitious program called MedicineInsight to gather anonymised patient data from 500 general practices (equating to about 2 million patients) on an ongoing basis. Prescription data entered by general practitioners in electronic health records will be extracted and analysed to provide flexible profiling of clinical practice. This extraction works seamlessly with existing clinical software.
MedicineInsight is collecting these data with the aim of establishing a longitudinal repository, linking GP prescribing to a person’s condition, diagnosis, past medical history, pathology test results, referrals and adverse events over time. Importantly, the information will be fed back to practices to identify where care can be improved and allow NPS MedicineWise to better tailor interventions towards better clinical care. Our early aim is to understand and improve prescribing behaviour and expand into other management areas as the program matures.
MedicineInsight will add value to the Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health (BEACH) program and other primary care data sources by enhancing our understanding of the patterns and clinical impacts of GP prescribing. We now have the opportunity to provide a stronger evidence base for future medicine and primary care policy and practice.
Competing interests
MedicineInsight is an NPS MedicineWise program implemented under a contract with the Department of Health and Ageing to better understand how medicines are used in the Australian general practice setting, in order to inform policymakers and prescribers about areas for improvement that can lead to better health outcomes and cost savings.
References
- Britt HC, Miller GC. The Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health (BEACH) program: where to from here? Med J Aust 2013; 198: 125-126. 0_IIFJGFHC