SA Health has announced that, until 30 June 2014, all general practitioners in the state will now have access to the PCS Clinical Audit Tool™ (CAT) with the take up of a state-wide license.

CAT is a population reporting tool, which aggregates data, enabling general practice teams to view their practice population as a whole. This information can be used in a variety of ways, from simply getting to know the demographics of your population through to identifying areas for attention or targeting consumer information. It can also be used to streamline practice accreditation processes.

Professor Nigel Stocks, Chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) SA/NT Faculty, congratulated SA Health for its support of general practice and for its commitment to better health outcomes for patients, especially those with chronic disease.

"Using CAT allows general practice staff to review and analyse demographic and clinical data held within their practice to identify patients at risk (of developing diabetes, for example) and implement improved prevention and management strategies.

"The college looks forward to working with SA Health on this exciting initiative within primary care and to the opportunities for better health outcomes that it may produce in the future through improved practice management," said Professor Stocks.

The RACGP recognises that there are substantial opportunities for general practitioners and practice teams to use aggregated information such as for more consistent individual patient care, understanding the needs of the practice's population, business improvement and including the provision of new services. The RACGP has reviewed a range of tools and supports CAT as it is easy to use, timely and useful. The tool is also standards compliant.

Currently CAT is compatible with Medical Director 2, Medical Director 3, Genie, Best Practice, Zedmed. Pen Computer Systems is currently working towards compatibility with other practice software systems.

For more information about CAT, recipes on how to use it and access to a free 14 day trial of the CAT, visit here.

CAT is currently displayed and demonstrated at e-health Futures, an innovative and interactive e-health display, located a RACGP College House in South Melbourne. For more information, visit here.

The SA Health announcement is available here.

To read more about Pen Computer Systems Pty Ltd (PCS), visit pencs.au.

Source
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners