Uncovering the patterns in pathology ordering by Australian general practitioners: A data mining perspective

Abstract

Pathology ordering by General Practitioners (GPs) is a significant contributor to rising health care costs both in Australia and worldwide. A thorough understanding of the nature and patterns of pathology utilization is an essential requirement for addressing the issues of appropriate pathology orderings and possible over-utilization. This paper describes how Kohonen's Self-Organizing Maps are used to discover the most typical patterns in pathology orderings for different patient groups. Test ordering data from a pathology company in Australia is analyzed; homogenous clusters of patients with similar ordering patterns are discovered and investigated, and possible management implications are ..