Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health (BEACH) is a system established in April 1988 by the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their ow ...

in order to "provide a reliable and valid data collection process for general practice". It fulfils the first of the

General Practice Statistics and Classification Unit A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED On ...

(GPSCU)'s objectives, namely to fill the void existing in 1997 in data about general practice. After 18 years of data collection from 1998 to 2016, BEACH contained almost 1.8 million GP-patient encounter records, and was described by the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

as "the most valid, reliable GP dataset in Australia", "proven to be nationally representative of patients at all Medicare-claimed GP services". At this point, data collection had ceased, but the resource is maintained by the University of Sydney, to which requests for analysis of any topic should be directed. BEACH data describe GP-patient encounters, with data linkages between indication and patient management, making them suitable for research into primary healthcare delivery or specific health problems, and to inform pricing and strategy. According to the website: : ''The program has generated or contributed to several hundred academic publications and grant applications. It has provided data and reports to industry, government and not-for-profit organisations. It has been used to support health system planning, policy development, development of educational material and to inform marketing and pricing business decisions.''

References

External links

* Webpage (with contact details): https://sydney.edu.au/medicine-health/our-research/research-centres/bettering-the-evaluation-and-care-of-health.html Health policy in Australia {{Australia-gov-stub