The deployment of Primary Sense, a non-commercial population health management, clinical decision support and data extraction tool, appears to be well underway, with around 10,000 GPs in more than 1,500* practices using the resource.
The original tool was developed by the Gold Coast Primary Health Network (PHN) in 2018, with the WA Primary Health Alliance (WAPHA) leading the development of Primary Sense 2.0, which has been operational since mid-2022.
Data-driven decision making
Primary Sense was developed in collaboration with GPs, universities and peak body representatives. It has been trialled and tested with 700 GPs in the PHN Gold Coast region.
Gill Yearsley, CEO of the Northern Territory PHN and Chair of the Primary Sense Steering Committee, said: “At a time when regional GP practices in particular are under pressure, Primary Sense offers GPs and practice staff an excellent range of features to support patient health management.” and data-driven decision making. PHNs are committed to strengthening and improving this application to add greater value to general practice and the primary healthcare system.”
In Cairns, Trinity GPs is one of many general practices in the country switching to Primary Sense to improve patient care. “Organizing the data allows us to treat patients accordingly and is also beneficial for accreditation,” said Daphne Venkatesh, practice manager at Trinity GPs.
The Trinity GPs team regularly engages with data-driven processes while exploring how data can optimize patient care, particularly for patients with chronic and complex health needs.
“A patient’s digital health record gives GPs great insight into a patient’s health and condition, enabling every GP in our clinic to treat the patient now and in the future. It’s beneficial for both of us.
Venkatesh said optimizing data has also allowed the practice to communicate with patients about chronic illnesses or vaccinations, send reminders and be proactive and preventive in providing health care.
The tool is intended to be compatible with major practices’ Medical Director and Best Practice clinical software products, with Genie and ZEDMED in the development pipeline. Primary Sense is securely hosted in Primary Health Insights (PHI) and all data extracted from the tool is privacy protected and stored and managed securely in Australia.
Risks, needs and patient categorization
The Trinity GPs team is excited to use Primary Sense as it provides real-time medication safety alerts and its seamless integration into workflow supports effective population health management, Venkatesh said.
“These functionalities will improve patient care, refine clinical decision-making and efficiently target interventions.”
The Primary Sense platform includes the Johns Hopkins University Adjusted Clinical Group (ACG) system, which categorizes patients according to their care needs and risks, according to the Northern Queensland Primary Health Network (NQPHN).
This enables Primary Sense to quickly identify highly complex or at-risk patients and provide the practice with reports and alerts for recommended services, tests or interventions.
All extracted data is anonymized, meaning the data does not contain any personal information such as name, date of birth, address or Medicare number. Patients can revoke their consent to data sharing via Primary Sense at any time.
Efficient resource allocation
Venkatesh said Primary Sense would improve patient care through real-time alerts and streamlined workflow integration. “Its population health management tools will help make interventions more effective and improve overall health outcomes,” Venkatesh said. “Giving practices the opportunity to share data with NQPHN saves costs and enables efficient resource allocation.
“In addition, the commitment to data security ensures responsible handling of patient information to build trust with patients.”
Primary Sense is under the clinical oversight of a national Clinical Advisory Group (CAG), whose members include general practitioners (GPs), clinical specialists, health research academics and representatives from leading industry bodies such as the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and the Australian Association of Practice Management (AAPM).
Data is one of the key topics being discussed at the upcoming Digital Health Conference, taking place in Melbourne on May 7-8. For more information or to register click this link.
*Number of GPs who record a patient visit in Primary Sense. Data collected for February 2024. NQPHN.