What a Comprehensive, Integrated Data Strategy Looks Like: The Population Level Analysis and Reporting (POLAR) Program

Abstract

In Australia, general practice (GP) acts as the gatekeeper to the rest of the healthcare system, and therefore the vast majority of the population have an electronic medical record. It follows that the largest database of the population is therefore on the distributed GP computers. Informed by a comprehensive system-wide data strategy, the Population Level Analysis and Reporting program extracts data from the GP electronic medical records and repurposes it for multiple uses. The program requires the data to be coded and then structured for multiple uses clinical care, clinical governance, research, and policy.