[Extract] Quality Use of Medicines includes the safe and effective use of medicines, and is a core objective of the National Medicines Policy in Australia.
Dispensing data are collected by a government agency (Medicare) for administrative purposes, for reimbursement of the pharmacy where the medicine was supplied.
Prior to April 2012, dispensing data were limited to prescription medicines which exceeded the patient co-payment cost.
A proof-of-concept was initiated by the primary author (Kairuz) to develop a comprehensive dataset of local dispensing records. Collaboration with Pudmenzky and Rossato led to the development of software to extract and de-identify dispensing data.
A pilot study was conducted in collaboration with Fredericks in metropolitan South Queensland (Ethical approval UQ 2012000078)
