General Practice: Potentially Preventable Hospitalisation Indicator Submission
The AMA has made a submission in response to a consultation paper from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare titled A potentially preventable hospitalisation indicator specific to general practice. While the AMA supports appropriate use of clinical indicators to drive quality improvement it has cautioned against the misuse of such an indicator.
The consultation paper, developed in collaboration with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), sought feedback on the development of a specific indicator which would focus on conditions that may be prevented or managed best by general practice to minimise likelihood of hospital admission.
The AMA submission responded to a broad range of questions around the proposed definitions, condition inclusions, specific populations, and related programs. The submission focused on the need for the indicator to be evidence-based and appropriately tested, and that the purpose of the indicator must be about learning and improvement, not assigning fault.
The full submission is available here.
