MedicineInsight

MedicineInsight is a quality improvement program managed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care with funding from the Australian Government Department of Health to support quality improvement in Australian primary care and the post-market surveillance of medicines.

MedicineInsight allows GPs to reflect on their own patterns of prescribing and patient care and compare these with other GPs in their practice. These may be benchmarked at local, regional and national levels. Participating practices are offered customised quality improvement recommendations that support alignment with best practice and identify key areas for improvement which benefit patients.

Insights from primary care are drawn from the patient records drawn from all participating general practices. These insights do not rely on individuals being identified, but once the data are combined, they can be used by policy makers, researchers, health systems and health professionals. By identifying evidence gaps in primary health care, MedicineInsight aims to improve clinical practice.

MedicineInsight gives general practices the confidence to share information in the best interests of patients. Sharing information for public health research purposes leads to significant benefits to the Australian community. For example, research using MedicineInsight data has provided valuable evidence on the impact of the Australian bushfires, the COVID-19 pandemic, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and many other important health issues that affect Australians.

All practices participating in MedicineInsight must display the patient poster in their waiting room and provide patients with an information sheet if they request more information.

Information for patients about the MedicineInsight program has been translated into 12 languages and is available here (coming soon).

An Easy English version is also available here (coming soon).

Practices must also share the health professional information sheet with their staff, as it contains important information about privacy. GPs who would like the MedicineInsight practice clinical activity reports to identify them by name can complete the consent form at the end of the information sheet.

All approved projects including research outputs from the use of MedicineInsight data can be found at the link below. Project information is updated on a regular basis, and approval of MedicineInsight data access applications takes a rigorous approach to assessment.

Approved projects and research outputs

For the past five years, the General Practice Insights Reports (commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care) have provided an overview of the care provided in general practice.

This year’s report provides further information on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on general practice – including the ongoing lockdowns, the ongoing strong uptake of telehealth consultations and the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines. The report is based on around 2.5 million patients’ de-identified data in 2020–21 from the MedicineInsight program.

We hope that these documents provide patients, GPs, policy makers and researchers with an accurate picture of the enormous amount of work undertaken in primary care.

The Commission takes its role as Data Custodian seriously. We collect, use and store MedicineInsight information strictly in line with Australian privacy laws. 

Find out more about MedicineInsight privacy, security and governance.