Mr Colin Frick, IF Chief Executive Officer says ‘IF are offering a further 500 Australian general practices and primary health care services, and all 61 Medicare Locals the opportunity to participate in what is going to be Australia’s largest primary health care quality improvement collaborative, the APCC Program’. 

More than 1100 Australian primary health care professionals will be trained in quality improvement methods through their involvement in Phase 4 of the Program. The Program will be implemented in the following ways:

IF will deliver 3 quality improvement waves to Medicare Locals

Each wave will involve small teams from participating Medicare Locals coming together to enhance their knowledge and skills in continuous quality improvement. Each team will work together to address some of the unique health needs facing their Medicare Local by developing locally focused quality improvement plans.

Through their involvement in these waves Medicare Locals will have the opportunity to engage their general practices and other health services in the implementation of their quality improvement plans.

IF will directly engage three hundred general practices and health services over 3 national collaborative waves

These waves will be delivered direct to health services who will be supported by their Medicare Local. Delivered through a combination of face-to-face and virtual (via webinar) workshops. Participants will hear from colleagues and experts in the field and use quality improvement methods to identify goals and systematically work towards addressing these goals; innovating and improving the quality of their services so they can deliver better care to their patient communities. 

IF will provide further information about these initiatives through specific recruitment announcements. To register your interest in upcoming APCC Program waves please contact IF via email apcc@improve.org.au

Click here to read the official announcement.

Click here to find out more about the Diabetes Prevention and Management Wave.

Click here to find out more about the Medicare Local National Wave.

To apply, simply advise IF about a change you have implemented within your organisation using a QI approach before 31st October 2012.

Click here to enter or for more information including the terms and conditions.

Due to limited places, general practices and health services that previously filled out an expression of interest for the initial eCollaborative Wave have been contacted and asked to resubmit their interest in the second eCollaborative Wave.

Expressions of interest for this wave have now closed. For more information about the eCollaborative wave click here.

For more information about the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) visit the National E-Health Transition Authority website.

The eCollaborative Wave is developed and delivered by the Improvement Foundation and funded by the National E-Health Transition Authority.

In addition to the nKPI report, the OSR (formally known as the OATSIH Services Report, now the ‘Online Services Report’) was collected for the first time via OCHREStreams. The report was open to services on 1st July, 2012. To date more than 98% of services have submitted their report. This is a fantastic achievement.

IF invites Medicare Local staff to join us at our next change management and team building workshop on Wednesday 7th November, in Adelaide prior to the AML Alliance - National Primary Health Care Conference. Join us in a day packed with practical skills, shared learning and innovation.

This exciting free workshop will focus on giving you the skills to apply quality improvement tools, techniques and processes that will help you build and maintain your team, and enhance your skills in managing people and projects.

Facilitated by QI experts Dr Andrew Knight and Dr Dale Ford, this workshop is an excellent opportunity for you to focus on developing a culture of continuous quality improvement within your organisation.

Click here to register or for more information about the workshop.

Click here to download the Change Management and Team Building workshop flyer.

The next networking meeting, on Wednesday 24th October at Rydges Southbank, South Brisbane, from 9:30am for 10:00am start to 3:00pm AEST, will provide participants the opportunity to share experiences with peers and discuss opportunities for quality improvement.

Rhonda Fleming from Townsville -Mackay Medicare Local will be presenting the topic: ‘Practice Support Team:   A driver for embedding Quality Improvement into Medicare Local workflow’.

If you are unable to attend the meeting, you can attend Rhonda’s presentation via webinar from 1.00 to 2.00pm AEST.  To register for the event, please email amy.markey@improve.org.au or for more information about the webinar please click here.

• an advanced security system with a faster and more stable infrastructure
• a newly designed Model for Improvement experience
• new applications, which will be made available as part of a  planned roll out
• the ability to monitor systems by setting individual goals for self-selected indicators
• improved access to quality improvement materials.

• 31.4% were General Practitioners
• 30.8% were Practice Managers
• 20.1% were Practice Nurses
• 17.8% were Medicare Local or Division staff.

The survey has provided IF with valuable information helping inform us of how to best communicate with our program participants. The survey has indicated that QI workshops and conferences are a useful resource in assisting primary health care professionals while regular email updates on QI activities also rate highly.

Congratulations to Heidi Avery from Rutherford Family Medical Practice who was the winner of survey prize, $250 team dining experience voucher. Ms Avery, Office Manager explained, ‘Though participation in the APCC Program, Rutherford practice staff have become more involved with their patients and doctors have seen measurable improvements in patient care, particularly for people with diabetes’.

IF congratulates Jade Regan, Executive Assistant to the CEO on her recent marriage and wish her all the best for her new married life.