Australian Primary Care Collaboratives Program (APCCP)

The Australian Primary Care Collaboratives Program aims to support general practices to improve clinical outcomes, help maintain good health for those with chronic and complex conditions, and improve access to Australian general practice by promoting a culture of quality improvement in primary health care.

The Collaboratives Program comprises a number of key elements:

Program topics: for each topic, an Expert Reference Panel identifies aims, principles and ideas for change, and measures of improvement. Topics for the Collaboratives Program have included diabetes, coronary heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic disease prevention and self-management and access to general practice services.

Learning workshops: participating general practices attend orientation days and participate in a series of learning workshops. These workshops provide participants with the opportunity to consider how to improve care and practice systems, and access to ideas and experiences from fellow practices.

Activity periods with local support: during the periods between and after the learning workshops, practices test and implement improvements through cycles of small incremental changes. Practices are provided local level support for these activities through participating Divisions of General Practice or Medicare Locals.

Data reporting and feedback: participating practices submit monthly data to an online data reporting system, and are provided analysis and feedback on the impact of their improvements over time.

Spread and sustainability: participating Divisions and Medicare Locals are encouraged to spread knowledge of the Collaboratives methodology to general practices not otherwise participating in the Program, and to apply their knowledge of the methodology to other topic areas.

Phase One of the Collaboratives Program was implemented from July 2004 to December 2007 and was managed by Flinders University. The Program funded about 500 practices in 42 Divisions of General Practice to participate in the Program.
Phase Two commenced in January 2008 and is being managed by the Improvement Foundation. Over 600 practices participated in Phase 2 Collaboratives waves.

The Improvement Foundation is currently implementing Phase Three of the Collaboratives Program, which runs from July 2011 to June 2012.

The most recent results for the program can be found at www.apcc.org.au/about_the_APCC/program_results/

More information on the Collaboratives Program can be found at: Australian Primary Care Collaboratives website www.apcc.org.au