Identifying and definitional attributes | |
Metadata item type: | Data Quality Statement |
---|---|
METEOR identifier: | 615756 |
Registration status: | AIHW Data Quality Statements, Superseded 02/06/2021 |
Data quality | |
Data quality statement summary: | The Indigenous primary health care key performance indicators (nKPIs) database collects service-level information from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health organisations funded by the Australian Government. AIHW identified 3 major problems with data quality: firstly, sometimes data that should be present were missing; secondly, sometimes inappropriate data were provided for the question, for instance the organisation may note that the information they provided does not adhere to the standard definitions or is for only part of the reporting period; and thirdly, sometimes an organisation provided data which were inconsistent between 2 or more questions, for instance, the numerator of some nKPIs should equal the denominator of others, but did not. Where needed, AIHW staff contacted organisations to follow up and get additional or corrected data. |
---|---|
Institutional environment: | The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) is a major national agency set up by the Australian Government under the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Act 1987 to provide reliable, regular and relevant information and statistics on Australia's health and welfare. It is an independent corporate Commonwealth entity established in 1987, governed by a management Board and accountable to the Australian Parliament through the Health portfolio. The AIHW aims to improve the health and wellbeing of Australians through better health and welfare information and statistics. It collects and reports information on a wide range of topics and issues, ranging from health and welfare expenditure, hospitals, disease and injury, and mental health, to ageing, homelessness, disability and child protection. The Institute also plays a role in developing and maintaining national metadata standards. This work contributes to improving the quality and consistency of national health and welfare statistics. The Institute works closely with governments and non-government organisations to achieve greater adherence to these standards in administrative data collections to promote national consistency and comparability of data and reporting. One of the main functions of the AIHW is to work with the states and territories to improve the quality of administrative data and, where possible, to compile national datasets based on data from each jurisdiction, to analyse these datasets and disseminate information and statistics. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Act 1987, in conjunction with compliance to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), ensures that the data collections managed by the AIHW are kept securely and under the strictest conditions with respect to privacy and confidentiality. For further information see the AIHW website www.aihw.gov.au The AIHW is responsible for undertaking the data management, analysis and reporting of information collected as part of the nKPIs. |
Timeliness: | After a trial reporting period in March 2012, nKPI data have been collected every 6 months beginning in July 2012. The AIHW provides individualised reports and PowerPoint presentations to health organisations which submit data, generally within 1 month of data finalisation. National reports with all figures updated are expected to be published annually from mid-2014. Additionally, it is anticipated that additional national level reports that provide in-depth analysis of various key issues will also be published annually. Due to the extent of data quality improvement processes involved, there is a time lag between the date when the organisations submit their data and the annual release of national reports. Although the organisations are required to submit the initial data no later than 1 month after the census date (of either 30 June or 31 December), finalisation of data in consultation with some organisations can then take a number of months. The release of national reports is expected to take approximately 9 months from the reference period. For example, data for the reporting period ending 31 December 2014 were due to the AIHW by 31 January 2015. However, 67 organisations provided their first submission of data after this due date. Upon receipt of each data submission, the AIHW checked data quality. In instances where data had likely errors, the AIHW issued the organisation with an exception report, which detailed the data quality issues and invited the organisation to resubmit data. The AIHW issued these to 87 organisations for the reporting period ending December 2014. Organisations resubmitted data, which was again checked by the AIHW. This was an iterative process which continued until either the AIHW did not detect any remaining data quality issues or the organisation indicated it could not fix any of the remaining issues, at which point the data were considered to be finalised for that organisation. Some organisations submitted data 4 or more times in December 2014. There were sometimes substantial delays between when the AIHW issued an exception report and when the organisation resubmitted data. As a result, data for the reporting period ending 31 December 2014 were not finalised until 15 April 2015. The national report for the December 2014 reporting period was published on 29 October 2015. |
Accessibility: | National level data will be available in AIHW publications. These are published annually and will be available as hard copy or on the AIHW website that can be downloaded free of charge. |
Interpretability: | Data were collected using a web-based reporting tool designed specifically to capture information on health processes and outcomes at primary health care organisations funded to deliver care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The main statistical analyses used in reports are descriptive however these are supplemented with some inferential statistics including modelling. Numbers and percentages are commonly used to enable interpretation of major trends in publications. The annual publication also includes a range of information to assist interpretation of data, including a glossary of concepts, and an appendix on data limitations. Once finalised, this national report goes for wider consultation that includes the Department of Health, the OCHREStreams Advisory Group, a number of public health medical officers (PHMOs) and internal AIHW peer review to ensure appropriate interpretation. |
Relevance: | The database includes information on the activities of these organisations from the 6 reporting periods ending June 2012, December 2012, June 2013, December 2013, June 2014 and December 2014, providing trend data. It provides general information about activities undertaken at primary health organisations (for instance, the number of babies whose birthweight was recorded) and health outcomes (for instance, the number of babies whose birthweight was low, normal or high). The data can also be analysed at jurisdictional and regional level. These data inform Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health policy, and program development and implementation. |
Accuracy: | AIHW examined all completed report submissions to identify missing data and problems with data quality. Where needed, AIHW staff contact relevant organisations to follow-up and obtain additional or corrected data. |
Coherence: | The nKPIs were developed as a new indicator set, with a trial collection in March 2012. Data were initially collected for 11 nKPIs. The original 11 nKPIs have remained virtually unchanged from the trial collection period in March 2012, permitting comparison between periods. From July 2013, data from an additional 8 nKPIs were collected and an additional 2 indicators were added to the data collection in December 2014. In the trial collection and the collection in July 2012, data were received from about 80-90 organisations that were participating in the Healthy for Life program funded by the Australian Government. Beginning in January 2013, data were collected from additional organisations funded by the Australian Government to deliver care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, with 206 organisations contributing data in total. In December 2013, 207 organisations provided data and in June 2014, the number was 210 organisations. In December 2014, 22 Northern Territory Government-funded organisations began reporting, bringing the total number of organisations to 233. |
Source and reference attributes | |
Submitting organisation: | AIHW |