Health sector

The health system is complex, with many types and providers of services and a range of funding and regulatory mechanisms. Those who provide services include medical practitioners, other health professionals, hospitals, and other government and non-government agencies. Funding is provided by the Australian Government, state and territory governments, health insurers, individual Australians and a range of other sources.¹

Over the years, an information infrastructure has been developed to support the collection of nationally consistent and comparable data on the health status of the community, health determinants and health services (including performance). This infrastructure includes:

A national agreement to collect health data consistent with national metadata standards
A nationally agreed approval process for metadata standards based on review by national committees
Regular publication of nationally endorsed metadata standards

For further information on the metadata standards for the health sector, please contact our data standards development contact.

^{1 AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) 2004. Australia's Health 2004. Canberra: AIHW.}