Heading back to the BEACH

Original members of the BEACH research program want to relaunch the admired GP data collection and analysis system in 2018

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Members of the original BEACH research program are looking to launch a modern version of the admired GP data collection and analysis system in 2018.

BEACH, which stands for Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health, was shut down in April 2016 after 18 unbroken years of mining information on Australian primary care based on participating GPs’ reports of patient encounters.

Researchers at the University of Sydney, which has taken custody of the BEACH database, have confirmed they are piloting new approaches, including online data entry by GPs, which is expected to be more cost-effective than the original paper format.

As of last week, however, funding had not been finalised.

“We are looking at ways of collecting “BEACH-like” data; it will be using similar methods,” a leading former BEACH researcher told The Medical Republic. 

The resulting product is hoped to fill the research gaps in data extracted from practice-management software.

The team is targeting a launch in mid-2018, which would limit the gap in data collection to two years.

The paper-based BEACH program, led by Professor Helena Britt, was regarded as the gold standard for GP research around the world.

To support itself, the program had relied on work commissioned by pharmaceutical companies and health agencies. But it struggled to survive as those funding sources dwindled.

The final blow came when the federal health department pulled its core funding of $300,000 a year, which had amounted to about 17% of the program’s costs. At a stroke, BEACH also lost invaluable government assistance to secure random samples of GPs in active practice, who had not been approached before, to take part in its quarterly reporting.

The original BEACH team trialled an electronic data collection system a decade ago, but the step may have been premature.

They found doctors in the controlled trial tended to record less information than they did when they used the traditional paper form, which was designed to follow the course of a consultation.

Researchers aim to demonstrate that a computer-based system with a better user interface can collect as much, or more, high-quality information as previously.

Explaining its decision to drop BEACH before the 2016 budget, the Department of Health said it was not a major funder of the program and that it wanted a more contemporary approach to GP research.

“The government recognises the value of primary healthcare research and data and the value of a robust evidence base to inform decision-making,” a health spokeswoman said.

“However, current reforms in primary healthcare require a refreshed approach to research and data.”