Australian General Practice Statistics and Classification Centre (AGPSCC)

Australian General Practice Statistics and Classification Centre
	A Collaborating Unit of 'The University of Sydney' and the 'AIHW'

The 'Australian General Practice Statistics and Classification Centre' (AGPSCC) is a collaborating unit of the Family Medicine Research Centre (FMRC) of the University of Sydney and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
The AGPSCC was previously known as the 'General Practice Statistics and Classification Unit' (GPSCU) prior to June 2005.

AGPSCC objectives…

To provide information about activities in general practice by conducting continuous data collection in general practice and widely disseminating the results

To continue development and testing of data collection and analytical methods for gathering data through electronic means

To further develop and maintain classification and terminology systems for primary care

National Data Collection

The AGPSCC is conducting a National program of continuous data collection in general practice. The program is called BEACH (Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health). It was launched in March 1998 by the then Minister for Health and Family Services, Dr Michael Wooldridge (see BEACH media release) and began data collection in April 1998. The BEACH project is a continuous collection of morbidity and treatment data from general practice across Australia which aims to provide a quality database covering general practice activities. Each year a random sample of 1000 recognised general practitioners each record details of 100 consecutive consultations generating an annual database of 100,000 doctor-patient encounters.

A report describing the most recent 12 months of data (April-March) is released in December each year. These reports are available electronically through the AIHW Publications-Online or through AIHW direct sales Phone 02 6244 1032, Fax 02 6244 1045 or Email: pubs@aihw.gov.au. Reports are also available from CanPrint, Phone 1300 889 873, Fax 02 6293 8333 or Email: sales@infoservices.com.au.

Our FMRC publications section includes a complete list of the AGPSCC publications.

Future Data Development

The collection of reliable national representative data from de-identified patient based electronic health records in general practice is currently not possible due to poor data quality in EHRs, lack of data standards and the difficulties with sampling GPs.

The AGPSCC is testing various approaches to explore the feasibility and reliability of electronic data collection by the GP at the time of encounter. This includes participation in the development of data standards and data input and reporting systems.

Classifications and Terminologies for Primary Care

The AGPSCC is using ICPC-2 and ICPC-2 PLUS in the BEACH project for the coding and classification of problems managed in primary care and the ATC and CAPS pharmaceutical classification systems for coding medications. The AGPSCC, in conjunction with the FMRC, continually develops these classification and terminology systems for BEACH and for supply to external users.

Why an AGPSCC?

The formation of the AGPSCC reflects the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s recognition of the need for comprehensive data about all aspects of Australia’s health.

Over 80% of the population visit a GP at least once a year. In order to meet the information needs of government and the community, data are needed about this major sector of the health care system.

In collaborating with the University in the establishment of the AGPSCC, the AIHW recognised the high level of expertise of the FMRC in research and classification in general practice.

Email: gpstats@fmrc.org.au