Allied Health Industries Survey, (Stage 1) Financial Year 1997/1998
- Overview
- Quality Framework
- A. General Information
- B. User Requirements, Survey Objectives and Budget
- C. Alternative Sources of Data
- D. Data Outputs
- E. Questionnaire Design and Data Collection
- F. Respondent Load
- G. Population / Frame *** You are here ***
- G1 Target population
- G2 Frame
- G3 Type of unit on frame
- G4 Number of units on frame
- G5 About the units on frame
- G6 Deficiences in frame
- G7 Frame updates
- H. Sample Design
- I. Estimation and Analysis
G. Population / Frame
What is the target population for the survey? (G1)
Note. The "target population", or "scope" of the survey, is the population about which information is sought. This section should include any geographical, industrial and size constraints.
Dental Services
Scope: All private dental services practitioners operating in the 1997-98 financial year.
Optometry and Optical Dispensing
Scope (Optometry): All optometry practitioners operating in the 1997-98 financial year.
Physiotherapy Services
Scope: All private Physiotherapy services practitioners operating in the 1997-98 financial year.
Chiropractic Services
Scope: All private Chiropractic services practitioners operating in the 1997-98 financial year.
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How is the frame for the survey to be obtained? (G2)
Note. The" frame", or "sampling frame", is the list of businesses from which the sample is selected.
The Stage One Frame is a frame of individual Dentists, Optometrists, Physiotherapists and Chiropractors.
The frame of individuals has been constructed using a well-maintained list of qualified practitioners provided by Medibank Private Health Insurance and by Medicare for Optometrists. Note that each individual is represented by a unique provider number. Although it is possible for an individual to be absent from the file, the number and size of these practitioners/practices is believed to be very small (estimated to be less than 1% of all practitioners).
Dental Services
All dental practitioners against whom private dental insurance claims (as registered by Medibank Private) have been lodged. A small number of private practitioners may operate outside of the private insurance industry however their patients would not have access to private insurance rebates and thus the degree of undercoverage is expected to be very small.
Optometry Services
All optometric practitioners against whom Medicare optometry claims have been lodged. As all initial optometry consultations are Medicare rebateable there is no undercoverage.
Physiotherapy Services
All physiotherapy practitioners against whom private physiotherapy insurance claims (as registered by Medibank Private) have been lodged. A small number of private practitioners may operate outside of the private insurance industry however their patients would not have access to private insurance rebates and thus the degree of undercoverage is expected to be very small.
Chiropractic Services
All chiropractic practitioners against whom private chiropractic insurance claims (as registered by Medibank Private) have been lodged. A small number of private practitioners may operate outside of the private insurance industry however their patients would not have access to private insurance rebates and thus the degree of undercoverage is expected to be very small.
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What is the type of unit on the frame to be used for the survey? (G3)
Note. Examples of type of unit include: location, establishment, management unit, enterprise, and employer.
- Practitioner
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How many units are there on the frame? (G4)
Note. This refers to the number of units, not the number of types of unit.
 | MICRO |
| Dental | 11,140 |
| Optometry | 2,737 |
| Physiotherapy | 7,926 |
| Chiropractic | 2,934 |
| TOTAL | 24,737 |
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What information on the frame about these units will be used for the survey? (G5)
Note. Examples of information which might be used include:
employment size, industry classification, whether the unit is in private or public sector, etc.
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In what ways does the coverage provided by the frame differ from the target population? (G6)
Note. Should include an estimate of the proportion of units expected to be defunct (ie. no longer in business), and an estimate of the proportion of units expected to be out of scope.
- Please see G2 for main differences between scope and coverage. Further deficiencies may occur with the coverage of the sampling frame due to the frame being drawn before the end of the reference period. However, the frame was drawn in February 1998, with a test frame drawn in November 1997. A slight increase in the frame was observed between the November 1997 frame and the February 1998 frame that was consistent with the recruitment of graduates. It is expected that there will be very few further changes to the list that the frame is drawn from between February and the end of the reference period and that those changes will be additions of the order of less than 1% of the frame.
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How will the frame be updated for future survey cycles? (G7)
- As the Allied Health SIS is only conducted every 3 years, it is thought that the sampling frame would be subject to significant changes by the time it is to be used again and it would therefore be wiser to undertake a new coverage exercise then.
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