The South Australian Quality Improvement Data Program

All South Australian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs) submit National Key Performance Indicator data (nKPIs) as part of their funding obligations of the OCHRE Streams Program. This submission is completed by each service on a biannual basis. The data is comprised of 24 health indicators and is sent to the Improvement Foundation, which aggregates the data and confirms the submissions, before sending on to AIHW. The data is then compiled into national reports.

The South Australian Quality Improvement Data Program (SQID) utilises this data submission pathway by receiving quarterly submissions from all participating ACCHSs. Trend line reports are compiled and feed back to services for a wide range of client health. These reports are also partnered with an AHCSA average, allowing services to benchmark their current figures alongside the Community Controlled sector.

Health Services submit health data on a quarterly basis to the AHCSA Web Portal, hosted by the Improvement Foundation (IF). This enables AHCSA to export de-identified data for all participating health services in which further analysis is undertaken.

Currently, the SQID Program compiles reports for National Key Performance Indicators, covering a wide variety of health including chronic health and diabetes, women’s and children’s health and lifestyle risk factors.

The SQID Program is very much a complimentary tool for health services in the support of Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) activities and initiatives. It allows for health services to gain a visual overview of how they are performing under many different aspects of health.

The AHCSA CQI team are aiming to expand these reports so that they are better tailored for ACCHSs. Other indicator sets, such as QAIHC Core Indicators, NT Aboriginal Health KPIs and OSR data may be utilised in the future.

Other reports, such as benchmarking and health service overviews, are another avenue that the SQID Program may deliver for services in early 2015. These reports will aim to compliment the clinical aspects of the current nKPI Reports, as well as build on the evidence base for delivery of care.