> Resources and Publications > PHC RIS infonet > February 2007

Editorial: Evaluation and data

Evaluation lurks in the background in the Primary Health Care Research Evaluation and Development Strategy (PHCRED) and in the Divisions of General Practice network. Although the E-word is in the name of the PHCRED program, research earns more kudos than evaluation in universities. Divisions would rather run programs than evaluate them when faced with problems of time, funding, skills and evaluation utility.

Does this matter? Consultants found few published evaluation studies about the effects and effectiveness of the Divisions network, when they assessed the value of Divisions in an ambitious undertaking commissioned by Australian General Practice Network (AGPN) last year. Tony Scott's rigorous econometric study depended on sound data, but benefits from activities such as Division collaboration with local health services are intangible and not readily counted. This Value study therefore examined available data on Practice Incentive Payments (PIPs) and Service Incentive Payments (SIPs), which Divisions can influence through their practice support roles. The study concluded Divisions had a positive role in enhancing the ‘count' of PIPs, and to a lesser extent the SIPs.

Tony Scott's presentation on the Value Study (see p3) at the AGPN Forum last November challenged us to come up with data and evaluation to provide more complete tangible evidence of the value of the Divisions network. Data from the first reports on the national performance indicators in the National Quality and Performance System will soon be available to contribute to the evidence, and evaluation will be boosted within the network as Divisions develop ways to report against these indicators. To be able to understand the value of the network, evaluation must move into the foreground through incentives, partnerships with skilled evaluators in universities, and becoming an essential tool in network management, providing benefit for all those with a stake in our health system.