Listening to patients improves the national e-health record

My Health Record is Australia’s e-health record system. Having launched several years ago, My Health Record now has well over a million records and is becoming a critical part of how health works in the country.

The Australian Digital Health Agency wanted to make sure My Health Record keeps delivering its benefits, making the Australian health system better. It asked ThinkPlace to help.

We worked with the Agency to build insight about the future design of the Government's national e-health record system, and to prototype the next version of e-health for the Australian community. 

We began by creating a rich picture of the experience Australians have with their My Health Record. We visited well and ill people in their homes and engaged them in workshops. 

After speaking to over two hundred people, from a wide range of backgrounds, we created a deep understanding of where e-health needs to go in the future. We developed a set of priorities for the community and insights into the challenges associated with the system.

We also engaged with a range of clinical professionals - from doctors to pharmacists - to understand what they need from e-health and how to make the system useful, efficient and safe. 

Based on our research, we created the My Health Record Experience Blueprint. The blueprint reminds designers who the users are, their goals, needs and preferences, and the things that will hinder or help them use their health record to achieve a better outcome for themselves and their dependants.

A design thinking approach has provided the Government an evidence base for decisions about how consumers and providers can best be supported by future changes to the system. There changes are now being implemented, making the system more accessible and ensuring it supports safe and efficient health care.