Case Study: Medicare Australia

As one of the more prominent service delivery agencies in the Australian Government, Medicare Australia is a customer-focused organisation committed to ongoing customer service improvement. Medicare Australia recognises the need to operate effectively at the point of service for its customers and to embrace the challenges and opportunities brought about by new technologies.

Queuing System Tender Won
A Request for Tender was issued by Medicare Australia, seeking a supplier to provide, install and support an automated Queuing System across the network of Medicare offices.

NEXA Group was the successful tenderer based on its software, which can be run from a central server and provide real time data from all offices. The Q-Flow system is designed to enable managers to improve operational efficiency and customer experience as well as capture business intelligence on which workforce planning decisions can be made.

Anton Dowling, acting Branch Manager for Medicare Australia during the solution rollout, cited the need for accurate, timely reporting across the enterprise was one of the key business drivers behind the selection of NEXA Group’s Q-Flow solution. Another requirement was precise and transparent monitoring of service levels with clear visibility of what is happening in every location.

Before the introduction of NEXA Group’s Q-Flow enterprise solution, data was collected manually by each branch manager, who recorded waiting times and branch performance out on the branch floor. Now, Q-Flow collects waiting times, service and transaction information in real time across the branch network, from the moment each branch opens until the last member of the public walks out at the end of the day.

“Our queue wait time data now has integrity,” says Dowling. “It’s unbiased and completely reliable.”

From the branch level up, Medicare’s managers can now see in real time how many people are currently being served, how many are waiting and what services they are waiting for. Using the data derived from Q-Flow, Medicare Australia can see trends developing – peaks and troughs in customer volumes, transaction types, queue wait times and queue lengths at different times of the day and on certain days of the week. Having reliable data on which to base future business decisions was seen as a valuable benefit by branch staff and provides invaluable information in its forward planning.

Because Q-Flow provides comprehensive data at the branch, state and national level, Medicare can begin to identify where and how its own best practice occurs and seek to replicate it more widely. This not only assists managers and staff improve service delivery; it is also a key factor in maintaining national consistency across the Medicare network of offices.

“Together with queue times and reliable real-time enterprise reporting, a third business driver was comfort for the public,” says Dowling, highlighting the fact that the vast majority of the public come straight from a visit to their doctor, so they’re unlikely to be feeling their best.

“The Q-Flow environment means they can sit down in comfort while waiting to be served.”

With the growing range of services Medicare offers to the Australian public, the time it takes to perform each transaction can vary. Using Q-Flow to prioritise specific types of transactions in a dynamic environment, Medicare Australia is able to automatically re-direct workflows to utilise all available operators more efficiently.

The installation of Q-Flow throughout the branch network has advanced Medicare Australia’s queue management abilities, elevated its awareness of the performance and capacity of customer service channels, whilst helping the organisation keep its promise to the Australian public to deliver great service.

The real time reporting capabilities of Q-Flow means we now have timely, accurate information upon which we can evaluate choices. We have the data to make informed decisions to keep improving our service to the public.

Anton Dowling, Acting Branch Manager