Investigating best practice primary care for older Australians with diabetes using record linkage
Key objective
The primary aims of this research project are to:
• investigate processes of primary care provision for older people with diabetes;
• identify the predictors (patient, system, and environment) of provision of primary care (best practice or worse); and
• explore the relationship between primary care (best practice or worse) and measures of health outcomes including quality of life and hospitalisation
In Australia most people access health care through community based primary care settings such as general practice (GP), pharmacy, and allied health. In these settings care may be fragmented due to the range of health professionals involved, mix of private and public funding and practice, number of stakeholders with funding responsibility, and mix of fee-for-service and salaried staff. Because there is no comprehensive source of data on service use in this setting, primary care is underrepresented in health statistics, and there has been limited exploration of processes of care for people with chronic health care needs.
Diabetes is a significant chronic disease that is largely managed in the primary care setting. Research has identified the elements of best practice diabetes management, helped clinicians reach consensus on processes of care for people with diabetes and led to the publication of management guidelines suitable for implementation in primary care settings.
Current initiatives to increase the availability and use of administrative data collections provide important opportunities to explore processes of primary care using record linkage. Record linkage will be used to investigate the relationships between processes of care, costs, and health outcomes among Australians aged 45 years or more to inform policy development relation to primary health care and integration of multidisciplinary care.
Data collection using a secondary survey of participants in the 45 and Up project is complete. Data linkage is underway. Preliminary analysis is underway and papers are being planned.
Funding source
NHMRC project grant
CHERE staff
Marion Haas
Collaborators
Elizabeth Comino1, Mark Harris1, Louisa Jorm2,5, Bin Jalaludin3, Jeff Flack4, Kris Rogers5
1. Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity
2. Faculty of Medicine, UWS
3. Centre for Research Evidence, Management and Surveillance, SSWAHS
4. Sydney South West Area Health Service
5. Sax Institute
