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Australian Health Research Alliance: national priorities in data‐driven health care improvement

Helena J Teede, Alison Johnson, Jim Buttery, Cheryl A Jones, Douglas IR Boyle, Garry LR Jennings and Tim Shaw
Med J Aust 2019; 211 (11): . || doi: 10.5694/mja2.50409
Published online: 9 December 2019

Unlocking the potential of health data to improve patient outcomes requires the integration of research, health care and education

Data‐driven health care offers great promise in improving quality and efficiency in health care, if its value can be harnessed.1,2 Australia has well established primary care data systems, has broad uptake of electronic medical records in the hospital sector, and has invested in My Health Record — a population‐wide, opt‐out, medical record. Multiple other initiatives in health data have incrementally advanced health care benefit. For example, the NPS MedicineWise Medicine Insight program — a national data initiative in primary care — has used health data to improve outcomes in a diverse range of areas, including cancer care, antibiotics prescribing, and diabetes.3 However, far greater opportunities exist to realise the value of data in improving health care.


  • 1 Monash Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC
  • 2 Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC
  • 3 Monash Children's Hospital, Melbourne, VIC
  • 4 University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC
  • 5 Melbourne Academic Centre for Health, Melbourne, VIC
  • 6 Health and Biomedical Informatics Centre, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC
  • 7 University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW
  • 8 Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, VIC
  • 9 Sydney Health Partners, Sydney, NSW


Correspondence: helena.teede@monash.edu

Acknowledgements: 

Helena Teede is supported by an MRFF NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship, with funds to the institution. This work is supported by the MRFF through the Australian Health Research Alliance of Advanced Health Research and Translation Centres and Centres for Innovation in Regional Health. Contributions from the expert committee and stakeholders agencies from across the centres are appreciated and acknowledged in this work (https://monashpartners.org.au).

Competing interests:

The authors are leaders across the AHRTC and are embedded within academic and health care organisations.

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