The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) is responsible for one of the most significant undertakings in the history of the Australian health system; the delivery of accessible, high-value and secure digital health experiences to every citizen and health practitioner Australia-wide. 

The ADHA operates in a complex ecosystem of government, regulators, clinicians, healthcare providers, health funds, technology suppliers and customers, amongst others. All are ‘customers’ of ADHA - all people and organisations that may directly benefit or be impacted by ADHA's activities, but each has unique and competing needs and definitions of value. 

Here lies the wicked problem - in an ecosystem so vast and complex, how can The ADHA design an integrated healthcare system that delivers high-value digital experiences that meet the needs of Australian health practitioners and the Australian public?

Where, how, and with whom do you start when thousands of discrete and unique customer needs and health priorities exist? This complexity required new thinking and a unique approach. 

Instead of looking at the individual treatment experiences, we designed and developed a groundbreaking Consumer and Healthcare Provider Task Model. The model broadly applies and considers every Australian citizen along every step of their health journey, their interactions with healthcare practitioners and their health data.

The model was delivered as part of a CX Toolkit, enabling the ADHA to design services that holistically consider the needs of all Australian citizens - for the first time ever.

It allows the ADHA to apply a customer-centric lens to all their initiatives and provides an enduring framework for empathy-building, idea generation, idea qualification, and experience design.

“End-to-end innovation in Digital Health within the Public Sector is nothing short of a challenge. We have continued on our journey of testing the new innovation framework with real problems with the Customer Experience Toolkit right front and centre... the Healthcare Provider Tasks and Functions were key to truly unpacking the problem we are trying to solve for.”
– Rosemary Hotten, Branch Manager, Data Insights and Design at Australian Digital Health Agency

Sponsored by the Chief Digital Officer, the project had active involvement at Board and C-Level. CEC closely embedded ourselves within The ADHA in-house CX Team to ensure the Toolkit was deeply integrated and owned by ADHA CX custodians now and into the future, remaining a valuable and enduring asset. In 2020, The CX Toolkit enabled The ADHA’s COVID Response supporting the Department of Health (DOH) national vaccine rollout. 

“It has been used to create the Covid 19 journey for the Nation, with some of it finding its way to the Prime Minister's office. It has established great design practices recognised by IPAA ACT for the Covid Dashboard and saw over 500% increases in My Health Record in some segments... This work set the (ADHA) team up for future success.”
– Steven Issa, Ex-Chief Digital Officer, The Australian Digital Health Agency

The need for connected, accessible and secure Australian Healthcare services is greater than ever, and The CX Toolkit has played an important role in unifying The ADHA and has changed the way The ADHA thinks and works. It exists at the heart of The ADHA Design System and has equipped the Agency to transition effectively from technology, compliance and regulatory-focussed to customer-focussed and build CX maturity.

The toolkit continues to play a crucial role in:

• The design and delivery of present and future digital healthcare experiences to all Australians and Australian Healthcare Providers.
• Equipping The ADHA to align functional teams continually, onboard employees, build CX maturity, embed quickly into new work programs, and establish a customer-centric project cadence across the Agency.
• Establishing The ADHA as a CX Leader across Australian healthcare government departments, giving The Agency the foundation to share knowledge and consult the DOH on the Australian Vaccine Rollout.

The Toolkit remains a core strategic tool to the Agency over 24 months later, continuing to evolve and scale based on new data and insights, changing needs and capabilities. In 2022, it was awarded two Good Design Awards for Design Strategy, and a Gold Award for  Service Design in Public Sector Services.

“Designing Better Digital Health Experiences for all Australians is a highly strategic and systemic programme, which is also well designed visually and graphically. It's compelling how the programme is universal in nature and can be deployed to address any health challenge facing Australian citizens.”
– The Good Design Awards Jury