Phase 2 COVID-19: utilising near real-time electronic general practice data

Phase 2 COVID-19: utilising near real-time electronic general practice data to establish effective care and best-practice policy

This project is supported by the Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre

Since its identification in December 2019, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and its associated coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has had a devastating effect on communities around the world. Beginning in June 2020, the "COVID-19 – utilising near real-time electronic general practice data to establish effective care and best-practice policy” project has identified the impacts of COVID across a range of measures and provided the foundation for examining the effect of Long COVID. This project represents a shift to an ‘action’ stage, highlighting the areas of care which have been affected by the pandemic and contributing to solutions around the role that Primary Health Networks (PHNs) can play in highlighting delayed care/preventative care risk to general practice; how changes to workflows (especially around remote care) have impacted general practice; the specific patient impacts of ‘Long COVID’ and what can be done in general practice to maximise care or prevent ongoing symptoms post infection; and the role that technologies/digital health can play in assisting to highlight these issues and lessening their impact.

This project is based on a collaborative relationship involving the Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre, Macquarie University, Outcome Health, Eastern Melbourne, South Eastern Melbourne, and Central and Eastern Sydney Primary Health Networks (PHNs). It will use an innovative secure and comprehensive digital health platform, Population Level Analysis & Reporting (POLAR) to:

Generate evidence to support the implementation and sustainability of exemplar general practice and population health initiatives and programs
Examine Long COVID and identify what can be done in Australian general practice to best care for patients, both from current symptom management and preventative care
Provide timely data/information to the GP desktop via POLAR to highlight patients in need of care and;
Co-design strategies for PHNs to highlight the breadth of key issues across their practices.

Project members - Macquarie University

Professor Andrew Georgiou Professor	Dr Mirela Prgomet Senior Research Fellow	Dr Judith Thomas Research Fellow
Dr Abbish Kamalakkannan Postdoctoral Research Fellow	Dr Gorkem Sezgin Postdoctoral Research Fellow	Professor Janaki Amin
Project contact Professor Andrew Georgiou