CEO interview: Bettina McMahon, Healthdirect Australia

What were you most proud of in 2023?

Healthdirect had record levels of engagement during COVID — over 100 million interactions with Australians each year — because the community was so interested in managing their health. But the big question for us was whether we’d be able to hold onto our role as Australia’s most trusted source for health information and navigation.

I was delighted to see that in the 2023 financial year we had over 85 million interactions with Australians — 50 per cent more than we were receiving before COVID. The vast majority serviced through our digital channels such as the digital Symptom Checker, Service Finder, and web content. We’ve put a lot of thought into designing those digital channels to work well for Australians, and I am proud that the results speak for themselves.

What are some of the challenges in delivering virtual care that is person-centred?

Some health services cost a lot, some might be free, some might be available and others not.

It can be tempting to prioritise developing and providing those that are free, always available and easily accessible, but not everyone needs or wants that. Our challenge is to help a consumer see the choices available to them so they can make decisions based on what matters to them and what works in their circumstances. Person-centred care is about being open minded and non-judgemental about the human agency healthcare consumers should have.

Healthdirect aims to surface as much up to date, reliable, evidence-based information as possible to enable people to make that informed decision. But as a result, there’s another challenge: there are so many opportunities to do this, and it’s hard to harness them all.

What key themes is Healthdirect focused on in 2024?

This year, we’re very much focusing on how we can improve access to healthcare. We and our government shareholders believe virtual services can provide opportunities in a way that traditional services can’t. Virtual care services can provide access at all times of the day and night, in multiple languages, and with a variety of healthcare professionals, where bricks and mortar organisations struggle.

We will increase the accessibility of our services, particularly providing more language options, by working with big tech companies on how to increase our speed to translate our services safely through AI. We currently have digital content in 16 languages, and the phone lines use translators offering about 200 languages, but AI could allow us to translate our advice to hundreds of languages in real time, enabling access for more non-English speaking communities who tend to be underserviced by the health system.

For Healthdirect, access to healthcare means access for all Australians, and we’re thoughtful about how we can play a part in addressing some of these big challenges the health sector is trying to solve. Our services have a real, human impact on those who use them and being able to realise that human impact will be a strong driver in the year ahead.