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About the Primary Mental Health Care Minimum Data Set

The Primary Mental Health Care Minimum Data Set (PMHC MDS) is Australia’s national data collection for Australian Government-funded primary mental health care services commissioned by Primary Health Networks (PHNs).

Data collected through the PMHC MDS helps PHNs, governments, service providers, researchers and the broader community better understand access to services, the care provided, and outcomes achieved for consumers. The collection also supports national and regional planning, evaluation of mental health reforms, and evidence-informed decision-making.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) manages the PMHC MDS on behalf of the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

The full PMHC MDS Purpose Statement outlines the objectives of the collection and how it supports regional and national decision-making in primary mental health care.

Reporting to the PMHC MDS

PHNs and commissioned service providers submit data to the PMHC MDS in accordance with the PMHC MDS data specifications. The collection includes information about consumers, referrals, episodes of care, service activities and selected outcome measures.

Data specifications

The PMHC MDS data specifications define the information to be collected and reported through the PMHC MDS.

The specifications are updated periodically to reflect changes to policy, service delivery and information requirements.

System operation and support

The AIHW is responsible for the management, governance and ongoing development of the PMHC MDS.

Logicly operates the PMHC MDS platform and provides technical system administration and support services on behalf of the AIHW.

Stay informed

To receive notifications about PMHC MDS updates, specification changes and other announcements, subscribe to the PMHC MDS mailing list by emailing support@pmhc-mds.com with the subject line “subscribe news@lists.pmhc-mds.com”

Getting started

Guidance for organisations using the PMHC MDS, including onboarding information, reporting requirements and support resources, is available in the Getting Started section.

Announcements

Latest

Update to the PMHC MDS - 23/10/2026 (v3.3.12)

PMHC MDS Update v3.3.12

We are pleased to announce that PMHC MDS Update v3.3.12 was released on October 23, 2026.

The following updates have been applied in the organisation management interface:

  • Fixed an issue where the Sites tab was not displaying.

The following updates have been applied in the data extract interface:

  • Fixed an issue where a link to the Organisation Management interface was being provided when a user did not have access to the Organisation Management interface and therefore being given an Unauthorised Access error.

The following updates have been applied in the upload and data entry interfaces:

  • When the IAR-DST Practitioner Level of Care response ‘9: Not Supplied’ is used, the PMHC MDS currently requires that a Practitioner Reason for Override has been supplied. It does not make sense to require an override reason when no override has been supplied. The PMHC MDS has been updated to permit this case. When any other Practitioner Level of Care is supplied the PMHC MDS still requires that a Practitioner Reason for Override is also supplied.

The following updates have been applied in the additional services:

  • Now that organisations have had sufficient opportunity to review their identifier management practices to ensure their keys don’t contain names, we recently updated the monthly name-like scanning service to scan only data from the last 12 months.

In addition the PMHC MDS website at https://pmhc-mds.com/ was recently updated, including the PMHC MDS Purpose Statement at https://pmhc-mds.com/purpose/.

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