Health Insurance (Quality Assurance Activity) Declaration 2018 (No. 4) (Cth)

Health Insurance (Quality Assurance Activity) Declaration 2018 (No.4)

I, BRENDAN MURPHY, delegate of the Minister for Health, make the following declaration under section 124X of the Health Insurance Act 1973.

Dated      4 December 2018       

Prof. Brendan Murphy

Chief Medical Officer
Department of Health

Contents

1  Name.................................................................................................................................................. 1

2  Commencement.................................................................................................................................. 1

3  Authority............................................................................................................................................ 1

4  Repeal................................................................................................................................................ 1

5  Schedule............................................................................................................................................. 1

Schedule—Declaration of quality assurance activity   2

1  Name

This instrument is the Health Insurance (Quality Assurance Activity) Declaration 2018 (No. 4).

2  Commencement

This instrument commences on the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.

3  Authority

This instrument is made under subsection 124X(1) of the Health Insurance Act 1973.

4  Repeal

This Declaration is repealed at the end of 5 years after the date on which it was signed.

5  Schedule

The quality assurance activity described in the Schedule to this Declaration is, to the extent that the quality assurance activity relates to health services provided in Australia, declared to be a quality assurance activity to which Part VC of the Health Insurance Act 1973 applies.

Schedule—Declaration of quality assurance activity

1          Name of quality assurance activity:

The Australian Corneal Graft Registry (ACGR).

2          Description of activity:

The Australian Corneal Graft Registry (ACGR) quality assurance activity consists of the collection of patient and surgeon data relating to corneal transplantation performance in Australia. These data are aggregated and analysed to provide de‑identified performance information back to ophthalmic surgeons, eye banks, the international transplantation community, the Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority, and other interested parties regarding the outcomes of corneal graft procedures and factors that may positively or negatively affect outcomes after the procedure.

The ACGR is conducted by Flinders University staff who collect information on a voluntary basis from eye banks, ophthalmic surgeons, and other health professionals. The information collected includes demographic data about corneal graft recipients, limited data about cornea donors, and information about the surgical procedures performed. Information from follow-up appointments is collected at 12–18 month intervals after the surgery.

To ensure the rigour of the dataset, data held in the ACGR is provided confidentially to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare for linkage with the National Death Index at approximately five year intervals. This determines whether any corneal graft recipients have died since registration.  The analysis of data is used to improve treatment for recipients of corneal grafts, and to inform improvements to clinical practice and procedures, future research, and policy making. Individual surgeons are provided with analyses of data relating to their own surgical performance, de-identified by patient, donor and eye banks. This information can be used by the individual surgeons to benchmark or audit themselves against the de-identified and aggregated results of all surgeons who contribute data to the ACGR.

The Flinders University staff analyse the collected data and use de-identified data to produce reports and disseminate the information in the following ways:

·publication of major registry reports every two to three years;

·presentations to the Australia and New Zealand Cornea Society & Eye Bank meeting; and

·publication of reports in international scientific journals.