The statewide Patient Report­ed Mea­sures (PRM) Pro­gram is trans­form­ing health­care in South Aus­tralia by har­ness­ing the pow­er of real-time dig­i­tal data col­lec­tion. Through The Clinician’s ZEDOC solu­tion, SA Health is deliv­er­ing more patient-cen­tred, val­ue-based care than ever before. 

What’s the PRM Pro­gram All About?

Imag­ine a health­care sys­tem where clin­i­cians don’t just rely on test results but tru­ly under­stand how patients feel about their care and well-being. That’s the goal of the PRM Pro­gram! By col­lect­ing Patient Report­ed Out­come Mea­sures (PROMs) and Patient Report­ed Expe­ri­ence Mea­sures (PREMs), clin­i­cians get a clear­er pic­ture of patient needs, lead­ing to more per­son­alised and effec­tive treatments. 

Imple­ment­ing the new Statewide SA Hos­pi­tal Inpa­tient Sur­vey (SAHIS)

In part­ner­ship with the Depart­ment for Health and Well­be­ing, we, at the Com­mis­sion on Excel­lence and Inno­va­tion in Health (CEIH), are rolling out the SA Hos­pi­tal Inpa­tient Sur­vey (SAHIS). This ini­tia­tive marks a shift from tra­di­tion­al feed­back meth­ods to a ful­ly dig­i­tal platform. 

South­ern Ade­laide LHN (SAL­HN) led the way in Sep­tem­ber 2024, send­ing week­ly SMS sur­veys to approx­i­mate­ly 2,000 patients. This tran­si­tion makes it eas­i­er for patients to share their expe­ri­ences in real time, ensur­ing their voic­es direct­ly influ­ence health­care improvements. 

Impact and expan­sion across South Australia 

It’s been a year since the PRM Program’s first imple­men­ta­tion at the Radi­a­tion Oncol­o­gy Ser­vice at the Roy­al Ade­laide Hos­pi­tal (RAH), and the patients are feel­ing the dif­fer­ence! By using the Dis­tress Ther­mome­ter tool at home before their first appoint­ment, many patients report­ed feel­ing less anx­ious when meet­ing their care team. This ear­ly inter­ven­tion is prov­ing to be a game-chang­er, allow­ing clin­i­cians to address con­cerns before they escalate. 

Build­ing on this suc­cess, the PRM Pro­gram has expand­ed across mul­ti­ple health net­works, improv­ing care deliv­ery in var­i­ous clin­i­cal areas: 

• Women’s and Children’s Health Net­work (WCHN): Suc­cess­ful­ly rolled out the Feed­back Cir­cle PREM.
• Cen­tral Ade­laide and North­ern Ade­laide LHNs (CAL­HN & NAL­HN): Pal­lia­tive Care PREMs are now live, enhanc­ing holis­tic patient support. 
• Eyre and Far North LHN (EFNL­HN): Allied Health PREMs launched, refin­ing ser­vice delivery. 
• South­ern Ade­laide LHN (SAL­HN):
  • PRE­PARES project PROM: A major ini­tia­tive fund­ed by MRFF, focus­ing on remote symp­tom mon­i­tor­ing for can­cer patients, is gain­ing momen­tum with plans to expand soon.
  • SAHIS Inpa­tient Dis­charge PREMs recent­ly launched.
  • Day Reha­bil­i­ta­tion PREM launched.

What’s next?

By mid-2025, all Local Health Net­works (LHNs) will tran­si­tion to dig­i­tal sur­veys via ZEDOC, stream­lin­ing feed­back col­lec­tion and ensur­ing patient voic­es shape the future of healthcare. 

Addi­tion­al imple­men­ta­tions are in progress for ser­vices including: 

• SA Den­tal
• YNL­HN Inpa­tient Reha­bil­i­ta­tion PREM 
• CALHN’s Cen­tre for Treat­ment of Anx­i­ety and Depres­sion PROMs
• SAL­HN Men­tal Health PREM, 

Have a question? 

Or want to learn more about the PRM pro­gram, vis­it Patient Report­ed Mea­sures.