Australian Atlas of Healthcare Variation Series
The Australian Atlas of Healthcare Variation (Atlas) series explores the extent to which health care in Australia varies depending on where people live, how their care is funded and their socioeconomic disadvantage. Findings from our Atlas are used to help drive improvements in health care.
What is the Atlas?
The Australian Atlas of Healthcare Variation (Atlas) explores how often specific healthcare services, tests, procedures and medications are used across Australia, and highlights where patterns differ significantly between regions. This is called healthcare variation.
The Atlas includes data, interactive maps, graphs and expert commentary that explore reasons for healthcare variation and suggest ways to address unwarranted variation. The data can show differences according to where people live and factors such as:
- socioeconomic status
- remoteness categories
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status
- private or public funding, and
- changes over time.
The purpose of the Atlas series is to identify unwarranted variation or differences in care that cannot be explained by patient needs or preferences and to prompt further investigation and action at a local level to reduce this unwarranted variation.
Why is the Atlas important?
Understanding and addressing variation helps ensure Australians receive care that is fair, evidence-based and minimises low-value care.
The Atlas series provides data, evidence and justifications which can be used by Government, health service organisations, and health professionals to make improvements in our health care system.
Following the publication of our Atlas reports, we engage with local leadership teams and health professionals to investigate, respond to and monitor unwarranted variation which enables targeted initiatives to promote safe and appropriate care across Australia.
Impact of the Atlas
The Atlas series supports health system improvements by:
| Prompting local investigation and quality improvement | Local investigation is often needed to understand the reasons for variation in care and determine how to respond, whether it is unwarranted or not. Local insights are also needed to respond effectively, for example our Women's Health focus report. |
|---|---|
| Supporting health professionals to deliver appropriate care | Our Clinical Care Standards describe the clinical care a person should be offered for a specific condition or procedure. The data in our Atlas series has informed the development of specific Clinical Care Standards such as cataract surgery, colonoscopy and osteoarthritis of the knee. |
| Supporting consumers to make decisions about their care | When people are better informed about the benefits and harms of certain procedures, they are more likely to decline low-value care. In response to Atlas findings, we created further guidance on shared decision making and decision support tools for consumers. |
| Informing health policy | Commonwealth and state/territory health departments have been important partners in both developing and responding to our Atlas data, with policy makers using our Atlas data to inform decisions on a range of issues. For example, the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) Review Taskforce used Atlas data to investigate high rates of knee arthroscopies in Australia despite mounting evidence that they offered no benefit for most people with knee osteoarthritis. Subsequently, the Australian Government removed funding for knee arthroscopy for degenerative changes and this together with updated clinical recommendations has seen the rate of knee arthroscopies for peoples aged 55 years and over more than halved (from 495 per 100,000 in 2013 to 209 per 100,000 in 2023). |
| Raising community awareness | Media reporting of Atlas findings has brought discussions about health care variation into the mainstream, with findings being reported in numerous print media stories and articles in medical journals. |
Atlas Data can be used to prompt:
| Prompt | Case Study |
|---|---|
| Review and improvement of local practice | Ballarat Hospital, treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding |
| System-level investigation and improvement in access to best-practice care | Tasmania PHN review of mental health services |
| System-level review and changes to financial incentives | MBS review taskforce removed funding for knee arthroscopy for degenerative changes |
| Improved clinical guidance | Clinical Care Standards |
| Further research | Research into reasons for variation in prescribing ADHD medication |
How are Atlas topics chosen?
Atlas topics are informed by:
- national priorities
- evidence of inappropriate care
- opportunities and engagement to support change
- sufficient data from national datasets
The development of each Atlas report involves extensive consultation with health departments across Australia to find potential opportunities for improvements.
We also work with clinical topic experts, primary care experts, researchers and representatives from the private sector as well as state, territory and Commonwealth government on content development and project oversight.
Atlas Focus Reports
Compendium Atlases
We published four compendium editions of the Atlas between 2015 and 2021, covering nearly 90 indicators. These large publications generated considerable media interest, and the findings have been picked up by policy makers and incorporated into national agreements, policies and safety and quality standards.
Tools and resources
Case studies
Case studies give you real world insights into what works well. They highlight clinical decisions, outcomes and lessons learned, helping you translate evidence into better, safer care.