Envisian consultants ensured a timely delivery, and the subsequent early adoption, of an important customer initiative that was of particular significance for the health industry.
Our client is one of Australia’s leading private health insurers. As part of the Government Wave 2 initiative for Personally Controlled E-Health Record (PCEHR) in 2011-12, it had signed a Deed of Agreement with the Government to establish a user friendly digital platform that would enable chronically ill members to track and share their health goals, personal health information, prescriptions and a guided program, with a health coach (nurse), GP and family.
To deliver, our client needed a consultancy that could lead a cross-functional team of its subject matter experts and technologists, manage the multiple vendors involved in the solution, and work with National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) and the many consultancies involved in the PCEHR program. The protection of members’ privacy and the security of their health records were of paramount importance.
The Envisian consulting team comprised experienced project managers, solution architects, and specialised technicians. We established streams to manage the key project areas, allocating responsibilities and securing ownership.
We started by developing a responsive delivery strategy, based on end-user research, which involved visiting members and nursing homes to find out how target users manage their health information. Change management was particularly challenging with many of the expected members being in their 70’s and 80’s. But once analysed, the new information from the User Experience (UX) workshops provided valuable insights into the portal design.
We formed a new Agile development team, using continuous integration and Jira, to provide timely delivery of business value and feedback into the project. Governance over the Agile development was set up early in the project, to ensure effective planning, reporting, risk management and auditability. Regular showcases demonstrated the value delivered and assisted in prioritising use cases and features.
The architecture and security team successfully separated personal health information from the insurance business as mandated by our client and Government regulation, then hosted the service on-premises in a segregated and highly secured part of the data centre.
Our ability to ramp up, to collaborate and to lead, as well as our knowledge of technologies and project methodologies, ensured we met the project goals, budget and timeframe described in the Deed of Agreement, including the successful take up of the service, with 1000 members and 100 nurses registering in the first month.