Lumos is a healthcare data program that brings together patient information from different healthcare services, such as general practices and hospitals, to understand how patients use and interact with the health system in NSW. This is used to help health services provide the right care at the right time, at the right place.
Lumos is the largest ever collaboration between the NSW Ministry of Health, NSW Primary Health Networks (PHNs) and general practices.
In Lumos, de-identified patient data from primary care, such as general practices, are linked with other health service data from NSW Health hospitals, Urgent Care Services and Healthdirect to provide a comprehensive view of patient journeys. This can help identify opportunities for improving patient outcomes, patient experiences and the efficiency of health services.
The data asset is continually growing and spans metropolitan, regional, rural and remote areas across NSW. Lumos' pioneering program was a winner at the NSW Health Awards in the category Health Research and Innovation.
Team Lumos is also working with Aboriginal Communities to embed Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Governance at the heart of the program and be able to include Aboriginal Medical Services in the future.
Lumos' scale-up was funded by the Australian Government Health Innovation Fund. Lumos is now funded by NSW Health.
"Any meaningful trackable data helps us improve our care" participating Lumos General Practitioner.
"Any meaningful trackable data helps us improve our care"
Australia has one of the best health systems in the world, with multiple levels of government, public and private sector health providers and systems delivering health care to the people of NSW. However, accessing population-level health information is complicated because data needs to be collected from different care settings and organisations. Therefore 'whole of system' information is not readily available in one place.
Lumos provides a more comprehensive view of the patient journey across the continuum of care. The views of the patient journey are connected — from the care that patients receive, to the outcomes that they experience.
Lumos delivers secure and reliable evidence-based insights and publications that inform data-driven decision-making to guide patient-centred healthcare. Each participating general practices receives twice yearly customised reports about the health service usages of the patients, which they can use to improve care.
Lumos embeds patient privacy and security measures in the program architecture. Precautions are in place to de-identify individual patient data before it leaves general practices through the latest Privacy Preserving Record Linkage (PPRL) technology. This means that no personal details that identify individual patients — such as names, addresses and dates of birth — leave the practice.
For more information about the Lumos program, including what data are included, and privacy and security measures, see Lumos Frequently Asked Questions.
For more information on how to use Lumos data, see Accessing Lumos data.
Lumos is one of several statewide and Australia-wide data and digital programs aimed at improving healthcare. For more information on how Lumos differs from initiatives such as My Health Records and the NSW Single Digital Patient Records (SDPR), see Lumos in the Health Data Landscape.
If you currently work in a general practice and would like information on participating, please contact your Primary Health Network.
If you work in a Local Health District and would like to learn more about using Lumos, please contact Lumos at the email below and we will connect you to your local LHD Lumos champion.
For all other enquiries or to provide feedback, please contact lumos@health.nsw.gov.au.
