A Learning Health System Framework to Operationalize Health Data to Improve Quality Care: An Australian Perspective

Joanne C Enticott; Angela Melder; Alison Johnson; Angela Jones; Tim Shaw; Wendy Keech; Jim Buttery; Helena Teede

doi:10.3389/fmed.2021.730021

A Learning Health System Framework to Operationalize Health Data to Improve Quality Care: An Australian Perspective

Front Med (Lausanne). 2021 Oct 27:8:730021. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2021.730021. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Joanne C Enticott^{1

2

3}, Angela Melder^{2

3}, Alison Johnson³, Angela Jones³, Tim Shaw^{4

5}, Wendy Keech⁶, Jim Buttery⁷, Helena Teede^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Southern Synergy, Department of Psychiatry, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
² Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia.
³ Monash Partners Academic Health Science Centre, Clayton, VIC, Australia.
⁴ Sydney Health Partners, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁵ Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁶ Health Translation South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
⁷ Centre for Health Analytics, Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia.

Abstract

Our healthcare system faces a burgeoning aging population, rising complexity, and escalating costs. Around 10% of healthcare is harmful, and evidence is slow to implement. Innovation to deliver quality and sustainable health systems is vital, and the methods are challenging. The aim of this study is to describe the process and present a perspective on a coproduced Learning Health System framework. The development of the Framework was led by publicly funded, collaborative, Academic Health Research Translation Centres, with a mandate to integrate research into healthcare to deliver impact. The focus of the framework is "learning together for better health," with coproduction involving leadership by an expert panel, a systematic review, qualitative research, a stakeholder workshop, and iterative online feedback. The coproduced framework incorporates evidence from stakeholders, from research, from data (practice to data and data to new knowledge), and from implementation, to take new knowledge to practice. This continuous learning approach aims to deliver evidence-based healthcare improvement and is currently being implemented and evaluated.

Keywords: data-driven learning; healthcare improvement; learning health care system; quality; translational.