Validation of a general practice audit and data extraction tool

There is growing interest in the use of primary healthcare data for multiple purposes, including health professional audits, quality improvement programs and research. A critical enabling factor is the availability of data extraction tools to audit patient databases for information such as patient demographics, data quality, disease profiles, risk factor measurements, pathology testing, immunisation and cancer surveillance, use of medicines and Medicare item uptake. Several extraction tools are now available that interface with the major primary healthcare software systems. These tools are used by healthcare providers for practice audits and by many organisations such as Medicare Locals, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs), the Australian Primary Care Collaborative (APCC) program and the National Prescribing Service.These tools are also being used for national indicator programs, including the former Divisions of General Practice indicator program, the Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council indicator program,5 the Northern Territory and the National Key Performance Indicator programs. Increasingly, researchers are also using these tools to facilitate data collection. Few studies have assessed the validity of these tools in Australia and generally these have been secondary considerations to the main objectives.