Variation in levels of uptake of Enhanced Primary Care item numbers between medical practices, within Divisions of General Practice and jurisdictions

Abstract

We aimed to report on variation in levels of uptake of services between medical practices across Divisions of General Practice, and jurisdictions, through the Enhanced Primary Care (EPC) program between November 1999 and October 2001.No Divisions had levels of EPC uptake outside upper control limits plus/minus three standard deviations the national level, suggesting limited substantial systematic variation relating to high uptake. Four Divisions had rates of practices providing EPC services (33.3%-67.7%)substantially lower than the national rate (81.2%). For all EPC services combined and for health assessments (HAs) there is substantial variation between practices in almost all Divisions of General Practice, and in some this is extreme. For care plans (CPs), while several Divisions show wide variation in rates across practices (and in a few there is extreme variation), in other Divisions there are very low rates of CP across all practices. For case conferences (CCs) the picture is even more extreme, and these patterns are expressed across all jurisdictions. There is substantial variation in the level of uptake of EPC services across medical practices in Australia.