As a not-for-profit government-owned company, we are a national collaboration between the Commonwealth, State and Territory health systems to provide our services 24/7 to all Australians no matter where they live. Our services are free to the general public and we are the leading, trusted national source of healthcare information.

Our strength comes from our talented and dedicated staff who make a daily difference in the lives of others, through these company values:

• We care about health consumers
• We provide real value
• We share knowledge
• We like a challenge
• We are proud to work here

We build and operate national digital health assets and support the national digital architecture through the National Health Services Directory and we connect with and provide data into the universally available My Health Record.

Some of our services are state or territory specific and we bring the same dedication to quality, safety, responsiveness and trust to every service we deliver and every interaction we have with Australians.

Government health policy priorities include:

• improving equity of access and health outcomes, especially for rural and remote areas and Indigenous Australians
• shifting the focus from health care to health and well being
• orienting services around the consumer, improving health literacy and empowering consumers to monitor, manage and improve their own health
• improving the coordination of care, especially across primary health and hospital services.

Governments are also managing growing demand for health services in a way that provides best value and outcomes. Health leaders are focused on directing consumers to the most clinically appropriate setting to ensure quality and timely care is provided in the most cost effective way. More and more, this involves supporting consumers to receive care outside a hospital setting.

Our response: In support of these long-term health reform areas, we will continue to collaborate with partners and bring an innovation mind-set to leveraging shared resources and capabilities. 

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety (2021) includes a range of recommendations, including a call to better integrate quality healthcare into systems supporting senior Australians – whether they age at home or in residential aged care settings.

New models of care are required to ensure that aged care and health services are coordinated around the patient, not the providers.  This involves improved links between healthcare in the community, residential aged care settings, and hospital settings. It also includes models that avoid unnecessary hospitalisation by providing in person and virtual health care for senior Australians in a family home or in a residential aged care facility.

Our response: We have a unique role in the health and aged care ecosystem as a vehicle for cross jurisdictional, cross health or aged care service, and public/private sector collaboration on initiatives relevant to health literacy, equity of service access and related outcomes. 

All jurisdictions are investing in digital technologies to re-shape the way health care is delivered.

COVID-19 has significantly accelerated adoption of e-commerce, and the digitisation of consumer interactions with services by 4 years on expected growth in our region. Digital solutions, especially consumer-centric data models, real-time analytics and virtual care innovations can fast-track many of the strategic reform priorities including equity of access, care coordination and consumer-centric models of care.

Our response: We understand the health industry’s capability and collaborate with private sector healthcare providers and the technology sector to complement their commercial offerings. We focus on areas where we have a unique contribution to make, such as where a national approach is preferred or where markets are immature.

The transition of health services from face-to-face episodes to virtual interactions has the potential to reduce the impact of health and aged care services on the environment. Health advice and services delivered virtually can reduce travel by patients to places where health advice is given, travel by healthcare providers to places of work, and the need to build new healthcare facilities.

Healthdirect Australia can contribute to government goals to decrease the environmental impact of health services by shifting health services from face-to-face to virtual care where appropriate.

Our response: We see opportunities for virtual health services to reduce the environmental impact of the health sector and will provide information to governments on how increasing virtual service delivery over face-to-face delivery can contribute to the environmental goals of the public sector.

The key areas of focus in this priority include:

• Develop a method to bring our services together in ways that meet the specific health needs of a consumer group, and promote the services to increase use of services by members of that group.
• The method will accelerate uptake for two defined end user consumer groups to:
  • Improve the way they manage or improve their own health (including through prevention).
  • Find the information they need about health services and how to access appropriate care.
  • Receive timely access to our virtual services.
• Evaluate methods, including conducting a formal evaluation of benefits to consumers, health funders, and offsets to other parts of the health system.
• Refine methods so they can be applied to other consumer groups.

The key areas of focus in this priority include:

• Improve the quality, accuracy and completeness of the National Health Services Directory as a highly valued national asset.
• Accelerate uptake of the National Health Services Directory to reduce duplication of local directories, support secure messaging and improve national consistency.
• Improve integration of our systems with public health technology including electronic referrals, online bookings and the My Health Record.
• Mature financial reporting and transition to sustainable funding arrangements.
• Provide healthcare insights and outcome measures to funders through improved data analytics and reporting.
• Identify and present to shareholders, potential solutions to strategic issues and priorities, including the contribution of virtual services to improved outcomes, more efficiency and the effect of virtual channels on reducing environmental impact of health services.

The key areas of focus in this priority include:

• Increase our integration with other healthcare providers by repurposing the use of Healthdirect Australia’s content and services within their products and services.
• Work with residential aged care providers to improve access to quality health services within aged care facilities, including information, advice, referral and virtual services.
• Improve support to Australians aging at home and providers that deliver services in the home.
• Work with funders, healthcare professionals and the technology industry to ensure our services make a unique contribution that complements – rather than competes with – the private sector.
• Optimise Healthdirect Australia platforms and content.

The key areas of focus in this priority include:

• Partner with governments to respond to emerging and urgent needs.
• Strengthen partnerships with shareholders and funders to understand needs.
• Improve data analytics and insights to assist governments anticipate emerging needs.
• Review and modernise the operating model to embed rapid response capability, product and service delivery.
• Improve relationships with suppliers and strengthen contract management.

The key areas of focus in this priority include:

• Build our culture and teams to encourage creativity, collaboration and knowledge sharing.
• Assess workforce capability requirements, develop a strategic workforce plan and support staff development.
• Optimise technology architecture and infrastructure to support contemporary requirements.
• Refine governance and financial models to support accountability, flexibility and scalability.
• Enhance our go to market policy and supplier strategy.
• Work with funders to align contract timeframes to enhance service performance.
• Measure improved efficiency of operations.