PACOP Membership & IT integration - University of Wollongong

All aged care homes and providers who wish to participate in PACOP voluntarily must complete the PACOP Membership and Data Transfer Agreement.

The Membership and Data Transfer Agreement outlines the responsibilities and processes associated with data collection, transfer, and reporting activities. The Australasian Health Outcomes Consortium and the University of Wollongong oversee the implementation of the PACOP Membership and Data Transfer Agreement to ensure compliance with UOW policies and procedures, privacy laws, relevant data governance, data security requirements, and ethical guidelines.

Click here to access the PACOP Membership and Data Transfer Agreement Form. If you have any questions, please reach out to your Improvement Facilitator or contact us at pacop@uow.edu.au.

For further information, please visit the PACOP Ethics and Governance page.

PACOP offers a dual IT strategy that enables providers to complete PACOP clinical assessments and access clinical reporting features at the point of care.

Option 1. palCentre software provided by PACOP

palCentre is a data entry software program customised for use by PACOP-participating aged care services.

palCentre allows services to enter assessment information (data) for clinical use, analysis and reporting. It supports the implementation of nationally standardised care processes and protocols, evidencing outcomes of care and promoting continuous quality improvement.

palCentre features include:

A user-friendly interface for entering resident and assessment information at the point of care.
Electronic reports at the resident and population levels within the aged care home to improve care documentation, communication, and coordination of care.
Generation of custom reports to improve care documentation, support clinical governance and continuous quality improvement evidence.
Generation of encrypted data extracts and submission to PACOP for analysis via the Secured Online Submission platform.
Access to education, training and technical support via the PACOP team.
PACOP can provide third-party penetration testing reports and associated security documentation upon request.

There is no cost for participating aged care providers to access and use palCentre software.

Option 2. Integrated assessments in third-party care management software platforms

PACOP provides our IT specifications and the PACOP Data Dictionary to third-party care management software vendors. Collaborative efforts are underway to support embedding the PACOP assessment suite into the care management software platform, which includes data collection and extraction capabilities. Integrated PACOP assessments enable aged care homes or their organisations to securely collect assessment data during routine care and extract and transfer information to PACOP for analysis and reporting. These collaborative integration efforts are underway with multiple care management software vendors. You can enquire about accessing integrated PACOP assessments with your software vendor or with the PACOP team for updates on the availability of verified PACOP assessment integrations.

Contact the PACOP Data & IT team if you would like to enquire about integrated PACOP assessments.

PACOP provides collaborative technical support and access to documentation at no cost to IT vendors. To become verified, vendors must pass data quality assurance testing to demonstrate the capability of their care management software to collect, store, and extract PACOP assessment data for submission to PACOP for analysis and reporting.

Please contact pacop-data@uow.edu.au to find out which care management software platforms with verified integrated PACOP assessments are available for use.

PACOP IT development plan

To align with the preferences of the aged care industry and the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability & Ageing Digital Health Blueprint, PACOP is developing a cloud-based digital clinical data system with API capabilities. The system will support an improved user experience and enhance the use and accessibility of clinical data through a single data point entry, allowing participating members to access live reporting features and interactive dashboards.

This digital solution will support the translation of daily clinical practices into outcomes monitoring, improving the safety and quality of palliative and end-of-life care delivered.

PACOP will implement the cloud-based digital platform in 2026.