The Indigenous primary health care data set specification (IPHC DSS) is primarily designed to support the collection of aggregate information from Indigenous-specific primary health care services. The IPHC DSS describes the aggregate data to be reported by those Indigenous-specific primary health care services. Only the data, which services aggregate using cohort definitions and specialised software, will be supplied through the OATSIH Community Health Reporting Environment (OCHRE), a web-based reporting tool. No individual level client data will be supplied to either the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) or the Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA).

For the purposes of the IPHC DSS, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary health care is defined as:

“…socially and culturally appropriate, universally accessible, scientifically sound, first level care. It is provided by health services and systems with a suitably trained workforce comprised of multidisciplinary teams supported by integrated referral systems in a way that: gives priority to those most in need and addresses health inequalities; maximises community and individual self-reliance, participation and control and; involves collaboration and partnership with other sectors to promote public health. Comprehensive primary health care includes health promotion, illness prevention, treatment, and care of the sick, community development, advocacy, and rehabilitation services.”

This definition has been endorsed by the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance of the Northern Territory (AMSANT), the Australian General Practice Network (AGPN), the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute (APHCRI), and the Australian Medical Association (AMA).

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary health care services include:

1. Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service (ACCHS): primary health care services initiated and operated by the local Aboriginal community to deliver holistic, comprehensive, and culturally appropriate health care to the community which controls it (through a locally elected Board of Management); and

2. Other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary health care services: health services funded principally to provide services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals with funding provided by the federal and/or state or territory governments. These non community-controlled services mainly exist in the Northern Territory and northern part of Queensland.

Services use a clinical audit tool program for extracting and aggregating data from their patient information and recall systems. The IPHC DSS has been written to inform this program. Once aggregated, the data will be sent to the AIHW via the OATSIH Community Health Reporting Environment (OCHRE), a web-based reporting tool with an ‘in-confidence’ security classification.

The IPHC DSS includes aggregate data only; it does not include data elements describing any details relating to or arising from individual client visits, at the client visit level, e.g. blood pressure measurements, body mass index (BMI) values and so on.

Aggregate data will initially be collected from a limited number of primary health care services, i.e. those funded by the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (OATSIH) via the Healthy for Life program. From mid-2012, data collection will be extended to the remainder of services funded by OATSIH to deliver primary health care. From mid-2013, data collection will be expanded to also include state- and territory-funded Indigenous-specific primary health care services not funded by OATSIH.