Report of the 2003-2004 Annual Survey of Divisions Divisions: the Network evolves. Report of the 2003-2004 Annual Survey of Divisions was published in June 2005. It was launched on 30 June 2005 by Lisa McGlynn, Assistant Secretary, Budget and Performance section, at a workshop in Canberra to present the findings of this survey to staff members of the Department of Health and Ageing. Report dissemination Copies of the 159-page report: Divisions: the Network evolves. Report of the 2003-2004 Annual Survey of Divisions and the two-page summaries were mailed to stakeholders on 25 July. Reports were also distributed at the GP & PHC Research Conference in July. The two-page summary was inserted into conference satchels, and distributed as an insert in the August PHC RIS infonet . The full report and two-page summary were also published on the PHC RIS website. Tables and graphs from the report were made available on an ASD reference section of the website, together with an excel spreadsheet containing identified data of selected population characteristics of Divisions. Additional reports for the Department of Health and Ageing PHC RIS produced several additional reports to meet the requests of participants at the June 30 workshop, who expressed interest in receiving further breakdown of figures from the Annual Survey such as: analysis by state and rurality as well as data relating to palliative care, obesity, and each priority area of the National Quality and Performance System:
- Acute Care: data from the 2003-2004 Annual Survey of Divisions - what does it mean?
Miriam Keane and Libby Kalucy, PHC RIS, 24 August 2005
- Palliative Care: Summary of Annual Survey of Divisions and Activities of Divisions 2003-2004
Ann-Louise Hordacre, Miriam Keane and Libby Kalucy, PHC RIS, October 2005
- Snapshot of activities targeting childhood obesity in Division of General Practice
Ann-Louise Hordacre, PHC RIS, December 2005 ( PHC RIS infonet )
Specific Data Sets provided to stakeholders In 2005 there were 25 requests for additional ASD data about demographic characteristics of Divisions eg staff numbers, number and size of practices, and the number of GPs in Divisions. Requests came from the Department of Health and Ageing (national and state level) (16%), universities (16%), ADGP (24%), Divisions and SBOs (24%), as well as other sources (20%). SBOs expressed increasing demand for state level data in 2004, and indicated this would also be required for the 2004-05 data. Annual Survey of Divisions 2004-05 The 2003-04 ASD questionnaire was revised in April 2005 taking into account comments made by Divisions in the previous survey and issues arising from consultation with the Department of Health and Ageing. A pilot survey was conducted incorporating these revisions, resulting in some further changes being made. The 2004-05 ASD was administered via email and hard copy in June 2005 with a return required by September 2005. All Surveys were received by 20 October. Upon receipt, surveys were checked, cleaned and entered into appropriate statistical programs for analysis. In addition, population statistics were collected from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, health service data was collected from HealthWIZ , and data concordance checked with the Population Health Information Development Unit (who developed Population Health Profiles for the Divisions). Preliminary analysis of the data commenced late 2005 with results to be presented in National Priority Areas. National Quality Performance System planning and reporting The new Planning and Reporting Framework
The Review Implementation Committee (RIC) is a representative group drawn from the Divisions network and the wider primary care system. RIC was established by the Department of Health & Ageing in July 2004 to provide advice and to guide the implementation of the range of strategies identified in the government's response to the 2003 Review of the Role of Divisions of General Practice. Further information is available at http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/Publishing.nsf/Content/health-pcd-programs-divisions-ricinfo.htm In November 2004 RIC agreed on a model for the implementation of a new planning and reporting framework for the Divisions network, as an integral component of the National Quality and Performance System (NQPS). A Planning and Reporting working group (PRWG), led by PHC RIS, was formed to design the structure and content of the planning and reporting document(s) to be used by Division Network members as part of this new planning and reporting system. The working group consisted of members from the Divisions Network, previous BMAG participants, State and Territory Office (S/TO) and Central Office (CO) Department of Health and Ageing representatives and PHC RIS staff. Implementing the new Planning and Reporting Framework
In consultation with members of this group, PHC RIS successfully developed a P&R pro forma for Divisions and for SBOs, incorporating the national performance indicators which were developed simultaneously by other groups in a very tight timeframe. PHC RIS also developed support information for use of the pro formas including user guides and on-line support material. As the short time frame for development did not allow for complex programming, PHC RIS designed the pro formas to operate using Microsoft Word, a product with which all users were familiar and which was flexible enough for the content to be modified and refined in response to feedback from users. The final content and structure of the new Planning & Reporting pro forma was built on the PRWG experience of what works for them and how they do things. The Planning and Reporting pro forma is an information collection tool developed with flexibility in mind. It allows adaptability for Department of Health and Ageing and for Divisions' internal use, while making the processing of information easy for contract management and assessment. The tool will also allow the collection and public display of information by an independent organisation. Review of the Planning and Reporting Framework In 2005 the new Program Planning & Reporting (P&R) pro formas were distributed to all Division Network members for the first time, and used to produce the 2005-06 Annual Plans and agreement plans under the new National Quality Performance System (NQPS). Review process
To assess the functionality of the pro forma, a survey prepared by PHC RIS was sent to all Divisions, SBOs and to S/TOs in October 2005. In order to review the reporting aspects of the pro forma, and given the limited time available for development in this second phase, it was agreed at the P&R Working Group to invite a limited number of Divisions (4) and an SBO to trial the tool by producing a three-monthly report. PHC RIS also conducted an internal review of the Program pro forma from the point of view of the data collection, collation and analysis processes. Program Areas of Department of Health and Ageing were invited to provide input in this review, as the P&R Framework aims at providing relevant information from the Divisions Network for program management and policy advice. Results from the review
Overall, the pro formas were effective, suited the needs of Divisions, SBOs and S/ TOs, and achieved their purpose of providing a familiar software interface for users. They had the disadvantages associated with a long word document of some issues with page breaks and formatting, as well as losing consistency because they could be easily altered to fit user purposes. Lack of consistency created obstacles for PHC RIS in transforming the contents into a nationally consistent form for analysis. Results from these consultations were discussed by the P&R Working Group with the Department of Health and Ageing. This resulted in recommendations for future development of the P&R Framework in the short and longer term, which were submitted to the Review Implementation Committee. Following this process PHC RIS then developed revised pro formas incorporating the agreed technical and content changes, and sent these to Division CEOs on behalf of the Department of Health and Ageing in December 2005. Integration of Annual Survey of Divisions and 12 month reports in 2006 In order to streamline the reporting requirements of Divisions for 2006 in accordance with the government response to the Review of Divisions of General Practice, PHC RIS commenced planning for the integration of the ASD with the P&R pro forma, in collaboration with the Primary Healthcare Information Management section of the Department of Health and Ageing. This process started in 2005. It involved reviewing the fit between the contents of the previous ASD and P&R pro forma; identifying current information gaps and future data requirements; and determining the availability, capacity and fit of alternate data sources. Central to this process is the simplification of processes and reduction of duplication for Divisional reporting. Preliminary analysis in 2005 revealed there was insufficient quantitative and qualitative data in the current version of the P&R to respond to information needs of key stakeholders. It was anticipated that some data will be available from external sources. However, in order to provide a comprehensive integrated reporting system, thereby reducing respondent burden and duplication, the following process was agreed with the Department of Health and Ageing in December 2005:
- review contents of 2004-05 ASD
- develop draft items for 2005-06 ASD
- consult with key stakeholders
- develop integrated collection method
- pilot new survey content
- integrate content with P&R pro forma for 12 Month report.
Outcome Based Funding In August 2005 Divisions' submitted their 2004-05 12 Month reports, using the Outcome Based Funding (OBF) template for the last time. Planning & Reporting (P&R) pro formas designed for the National Quality and Performance System have superseded the OBF template for planning in 2005, and will replace the OBF template for reporting in 2006.
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