Medicross Australia is ahead of the game
and serves as a shining example of excellence
in innovation. From humble beginnings,
Medicross has grown to 12 practices
across Queensland if ever a company was
earmarked for growth, this is it.
numbers. For Managing Director Charles
Jewaskiewitz, this growth can be attributed
to one thing the incorporation of online
appointment-booking service 1stAvailable.com.
au. Patient numbers in the period between May
and now have exploded. Since its introduction
there have been nearly 5000 bookings through
the 1stavailable.com.au platform.
in technology, embracing it quickly and
delivering it to our patients," says Charles.
"The healthcare industry has traditionally
been very slow in its uptake of technological
innovation. People often ask how I have
grown Medicross so quickly and my response
is always the same I am focused on
understanding customers and bolstering
innovation to foster growth."
Solutions, this case study focuses on
Medicross Coomera, in Queensland.
It reviews the integration of online
appointment-booking platform
1stAvailable.com.au and evaluates whether
the practice has had efficiency gains, as
well as the perceptions of staff and patients
relating to the service.
patients with a `one-stop' service experience,
delivering quality healthcare. A key focus at
Medicross Coomera is the patient wait time.
centre. The practice is located in the Gold
Coast Medicare catchment area, which has a
population of 539,890 people.
telephone bookings
platform, Medicross Coomera was attracting
more than 250 patients per week and
growing at an unprecedented rate. While the
growth was seen as a positive development,
the burden on administration staff to deliver
quality service without compromising the
patient experience was increasing.
appointment bookings during office hours.
According to Medicross staff, patients were
becoming increasingly frustrated. Staff
were overworked, and were dedicating
the majority of their time to taking and
arranging bookings. As a result, other
important practice tasks were being
left unattended.
online solutions for everyday services such
as banking and shopping. Unfortunately,
accessing healthcare services today remains
unnecessarily difficult. Charles admits to
being a keen advocate of incorporating
technology into medical practices.
appointment-booking product to the test to see if the technology contributed to
growing a medical practice and improving patient satisfaction.