Walker Street General Practice, at Bowral, joined South Western Sydney Primary Health Network’s (SWSPHN) Quality Improvement in Primary Care (QIPC) program in August 2019 – and hasn’t regretted the decision.
QIPC, a collaboration between SWSPHN and general practices, was set up in October 2017.
The program is a staged approach to improve the quality of patient care in general practice.
This is achieved by focusing on software and reporting. Supporting GPs and practice staff to meet RACGP standards for chronic disease prevention and management.
Walker Street General Practice jumped on board when new owners took over the practice.
“The new principal was very focused on efficiency and data quality. The incentive payment was also just that – an incentive,” explained Walker Street General Practice manager and QI champion Emily Meadows (pictured right). Importantly, QIPC also ticked and enhanced two of Walker Street Practice’s five values. “We are committed to continuing with this as it forms a key part of two of our five values – those of Excellence and Efficiency (Teamwork, Service to Others and Honesty).”
The three objectives of the QIPC program are:
- Improving data quality
- Utilising practice data to improve patient care
- Identifying potential business revenue for the practice
Walker Street General Practice embraced the chance to better use data to deliver better patient care.
Ms Meadows said while patient care was paramount the benefits of the practice of adopting QIPC were numerous.
“It was more about the opportunity to better use data in order to deliver better patient care … We have improved data quality, increased CDM (chronic disease management) and an ongoing focus on improvement to quality data.
“GPs also appreciate the CPD (Continuing Professional Development) points,” she said.
Ms Meadows said there was no impact on the practice’s “operating rhythm” by linking up with QIPC.
“Adopting the program wasn’t too challenging, we just needed a communications program for the doctors and nurses to get them on board.
“It’s more about keeping us on track in always identifying areas for improvement based on what the data is telling us.”
SWSPHN provides free access to POLAR GP tool for participating practices. This tool translates data into real and relevant statistical and graphical information that is easy to understand and action.
Participating practices have access to POLAR QIPC reports 24/7. The practices can use POLAR to identify an area they would like to focus on. SWSPHN assists the practice to record this on a model for improvement (MFI) template. During the following quarterly visit, this MFI is reviewed to track the practice’s progress, and a new focus area is identified for the following quarter.
The QIPC program has three tiers which indicate a practice’s level of engagement in quality improvement: as engagement increases, practices move into higher tiers.
Of the 266 QIPC participating practices, 20 are participating in Tier 1 (data sharing only), 181 in Tier 2 (data quality) and 65 in Tier 3 (clinical focus).
During 2023, SWSPHN plans to expand its Health Systems Improvement (HSI) team to develop more QIPC resources and to better support more Tier 3 practices as they step up from Tier 2.
Walker Street General Practice is a Tier 3 practice.
In addition to improvement in clinic data, income and patient health outcomes, other benefits of participating in the SWSPHN QIPC program include:
- Completion of one Model for Improvement (MFI) per quarter helps meet Practice Incentive Payment QI requirements for continuous quality improvement.
- There have been significant changes to RACGP GP CPD requirements for the 2023 to 2025 triennium. The SWSPHN QIPC program has been approved to offer 10 CPD hours for one of the years in the triennium to GPs who register and meet eligibility criteria. HSI officers will soon invite Tier 3 GPs to register.
- Nurses working in Tier 2 and Tier 3 practices, who actively participate in the QIPC program, may be eligible for two CPD hours per calendar year. Information is available from your PSO/HSI officer.
- Involvement in the QIPC program can help the practice to meet or exceed accreditation standards for quality improvement as listed in the RACGP 5th Edition Standards.
For more information, contact your SWSPHN Practice Support Officer.
Alternatively, please call 4632 3000 or email enquiries@swsphn.com.au.
Click here to read more about QIPC and successful QIPC practices.