Activity reporting

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This information guides genetic and specialty services involved in a multidisciplinary team (MDT) meeting to report non-admitted patient activity.

Recording activity accurately and consistently helps ensure reliable data capture. Useful systems for this include Scheduler, PowerForms or the patient’s electronic medical record (eMR). This provides a solid evidence base to support strategic planning and operational decision-making.

Non-admitted patient activity

What to report

A non-admitted patient service is defined as:1

  • an interaction between one or more healthcare provider(s) and one or more non-admitted patient(s) that contains therapeutic or clinical content, and results in a dated entry in the patient’s health record
  • a multidisciplinary case conference between three or more individual healthcare providers, without the patient present, that contains therapeutic or clinical content and results in a dated entry in the patient’s health record
  • a diagnostic service ordered during a non-admitted patient service event.

Who must report

Heath services provided by, or contracted by, a LHD, SHN or affiliated health organisation must report non-admitted patient services, as a minimum.1 This includes:

  • outpatient services
  • allied health services
  • community health services.

Optional support services

Reporting non-admitted patient support services is generally optional. However, the LHD or SHN may mandate these services via a specific policy directive.

Non-admitted patient support services are defined as:1

  • an activity or interaction that supplements and/or supports the health or healthcare of a non-admitted person or personal carers, but does not contain clinical or therapeutic content or result in a dated entry in the patient’s health record
  • an activity or interaction that supports the health or healthcare of the community generally
  • services that contribute to the cost of the care of the patient, such as medical technician services.

Administrative set-up of service units

Report non-admitted activity at the patient level; however, classify based on the service unit. Administrative set-up of service units supports non-admitted activity reporting.

A service unit is a health professional, or group of health professionals, who work in cooperation and share common facilities or resources. They provide services to assess, diagnose and treat a specific set of health-related conditions in a hospital (outpatient, admitted or outreach) or in the community.

Genetic services are identified by their establishment type, or by the naming convention of the service unit. For further information on HERO ID number, establishment type and map to tier 2 class, contact the Non-Admitted Patient (NAP) Data Coordinator in your LHD or SHN.

Current genetic services

  1. Fill out the Non-Admitted Patient Service Unit Classification Tool and contact your LHD or SHN NAP Data Coordinator to discuss the information.
  2. Request a copy of the current provider activity attributed to your genomics or genetics service, including the 'service establishment type' (classification of the clinic).
  3. Review the provided activity for accuracy:
    • Review the service establishment type to ensure accuracy.  Most services should be reported under:
      • 12.24: Genetics Allied Health / Nursing Unit
      • 39.08: Genetics Medical Consultation Unit
      • 15.23: Cancer – Genetic Services Medical Consultation Unit
      • 15.42: Cancer – Genetic Services Allied Health / Nursing Unit

      Full descriptions of these service establishments can be found in the Non-admitted Patient Establishment Type Definitions Manual.2

    • Ensure that all clinical services provided are included in the activity, including in-person consultations with patients; telephone or videoconference consultations; and multidisciplinary case conferences.
    • Ensure the genomics or genetics activity is easily identifiable.
  4. Where the review of activity looks to be incorrect, or is not discreet from other clinical services, discuss with your LHD or SHN NAP Coordinator on how to capture the information for your service.

New specialty services

  1. Before commencing the service, contact your LHD or SHN NAP Data Coordinator with a completed Service Unit Classification Tool, specifically noting the following:
    • System(s) that will be used to document appointments and clinical information
    • Your job role or specialty
    • A description of the service, including:
      • the focus of care or specialty, i.e. genetics, cancer, musculoskeletal, neurology
      • staffing resources
      • specialist services or procedures that may be provided
      • frequency of service
      • proposed service establishment type for the service.

        Note: where the most appropriate establishment type is not genetics, but the service has a significant genetic component, ensure the HERO naming convention of the service unit includes the term ‘genetic/s’ or ‘genomics’ to allow for easy identification of the service.
      • funding source of the service, i.e. a particular hospital or grant funded.
  2. One month after the commencement of the service, contact the NAP Data Coordinator to ensure the activity submitted for your service is being reported to the NSW Ministry of Health as expected.
  3. Where there are discrepancies, work with the NAP Data Coordinator to ensure reported activity is consistent with actual activity

Multidisciplinary team meeting

  • A multidisciplinary team meeting is recognised in the ‘NAP data mart’ when there are three or more providers delivering a service event.
  • The providers must deliver an occasion of service within the same team (service unit) on the same day to trigger the business rule.
  • The flag is counted when the business rule is met.
  • Contact your local NAP Data Coordinator to confirm these are being accurately reported and captured.

Reporting occasion of service

An occasion of service is any examination, consultation, treatment or other service provided by a clinician.

Data collection in NSW is at the patient level and is called 'occasion of service level'. This means data should be collected for each event, broken into time, for each patient and provider combination.

Example

Akira is a 4-year-old girl who has been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis during a recent hospital stay.

  • 9am MDT meeting:
    Akira's case is discussed in a cystic fibrosis MDT meeting, led by a respiratory physician lasting for 30 minutes, with the following providers in attendance:
    • Respiratory physician
    • Physiotherapist
    • Genetic counsellor
    • Clinical nurse consultant
    • Social worker
    This would equate to five occasions of service for Akira for this event
  • 10am MDT clinic:
    Akira and her parents then attend a cystic fibrosis MDT clinic at the hospital at 10am. They rotate between the respiratory physician, physiotherapist and genetic counsellor, with each consult lasting 20 minutes. This would equate to three further occasions of service for Akira for the day.
  • 11am appointment with genetic counsellor:
    Following the MDT clinic, the genetic counsellor spends two hours finalising the documentation (including the pedigree, patient notes and preparing further documentation for discussion at a follow-up appointment with the family). This would equate to one more occasion of service for Akira for the day.

Calculation of hours

Overall, Akira officially had 9 occasions of service for the day:

  • 5 from the MDT meeting discussion
  • 3 in the cystic fibrosis clinic
  • 1 in the genetic offices.

Despite only being present for three of them, all nine occasions should be reported in the appropriate system (discuss with NAP DATA Coordinator).

Reporting service events

Nationally, the non-admitted patient data is reported at the service event level, which the NSW Ministry of Health aggregate occasion of service for, and report nationally based on the following:

  • Same patient
  • Same clinic
  • Same day

Calculation of hours

As such, in the above example, the patient would have 3 service events reported:

  • 1 x MDT meeting (reported separately nationally)
  • 1 x genetics service
  • 1 x cystic fibrosis clinic

Resources

Activity Based Management (ABM) Hub
NSW Health SharePoint site (requires login) with various ABM resources, including:

  • ABM Compendium
  • ABM videos and recordings
  • Fact sheet, user guides and reports
  • Presentations
  • Documents library

References

  1. NSW Ministry of Health. Non-Admitted Patient Activity Reporting Requirements PD2013_010. Sydney: Ministry of Health; 2013 [cited 17 April 2025].
  2. NSW Ministry of Health. Non-Admitted Patient Establishment Type Definitions Manual IB2023_018. Sydney: Ministry of Health; 2023 [cited 17 April 2025].
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