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 ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. 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 ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Ministry of Health, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø 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 ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø 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 to metropolitan, regional, rural and remote areas across ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø.
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.
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 ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. However, accessing population level health information is complicated because data need 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 that inform data-driven decision making to guide patient-centred healthcare.
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.
"Any meaningful trackable data helps us improve our care" – participating Lumos General Practitioner
"Any meaningful trackable data helps us improve our care"
– participating Lumos General Practitioner
Lumos data linkages are performed twice per year by the Centre for Health Record Linkage (CHeReL). Lumos includes, but is not limited to, patient data from:
Further data assets are added as needed following ethical approval.
After each linkage, participating general practices and PHNs receive a customised report about patients that visit their practice, which they can use to improve care. Practice reports are continually improved through consultation, ensuring they best inform the management of local health needs.
The reports provide information on the practice patients' demographics, usage of health services, emergency department presentations and hospital use. All reports feature a condition in focus.
The Lumos data asset is stored in the Secure Analytics Primary Health Environment (SAPHE), a highly secure cloud solution designed by Lumos and rigously assessed by eHealth ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. Access to Lumos data is restricted to healthcare organisations who meet eligibility criteria. Only use for the planning, monitoring, funding and evaluation of health services is permitted.
Lumos data are not currently available for research purposes.
The Lumos team regularly seeks feedback from our partners, through ongoing engagement with general practitioners, PHNs, Local Health Districts, consumer representatives and other health-related services. The Lumos team also conducts annual formal consultations with PHNs.
An established Lumos Data Governance Framework ensures that data management reflects the program aims, complies with requirements, builds public trust, establishes responsibilities and accountabilities, and guides data-related decision making.
Lumos began as a pilot initiative between the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Ministry of Health and Western Sydney PHN (WentWest), before expanding to all ten ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø PHNs.
As of 1 February 2025, over 800 general practices were participating, representing 33.3% of all ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø general practices and over 50% of the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø population. Lumos includes over 6 million unique patients.
Lumos scale up was funded by the Australian Government Health Innovation Fund. Lumos is now funded by ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Health.
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 please contact lumos@health.nsw.gov.au.
