While technology has been widely used by medical professionals to deliver healthcare, the way in which consumers interact with healthcare services has fundamentally stayed the same for over 100 years. Consumers in urgent need of medical services often have to go through a tedious process of booking an appointment through phone and waiting in the queue system only to find out that it will be weeks before they can get an appointment. Also, the use of paper-based prescriptions and payments make the process even more inconvenient and time-consuming. So, to fill this gap in the healthcare industry, 1stGroup, Australia’s leading digital healthcare services group came to the forefront.
The pioneering company has been building trusted online portals that connect the nation’s healthcare service providers, veterinarians, corporates, governments, and consumers with each other. It offers powerful solutions to empower everyone in the healthcare ecosystem to improve connectivity, higher visibility, faster responses, higher traffic, and realize higher positive outcomes.
One Digital Platform Catering to Australia’s Healthcare Industry
1stGroup was set up in 2011 by Mr. Klaus Bartosch, a well-experienced businessman and Dr. Rick Luu, a dentist, in New South Wales, Australia. The company took up the responsibility to connect healthcare advisors with consumers in need, by partnering up with healthcare service providers. “We wanted to make access to healthcare simpler, easier, faster, and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So, we started providing consumers with digital channels to engage with healthcare services online,” Mr. Klaus, the managing director, and CEO, explains.
Initially, 1stGroup served the dental market. Over the years, it has steadily expanded into a broad range of sectors such as pharmacy, optometry, oncology, and veterinary. Now it supports over 11,000 diverse healthcare clients, in Australia and New Zealand including large corporates, hospitals, private practices, pharmacies, and government agencies. Today, it has become a nationally trusted healthcare services platform, following strict data security measures to safeguard sensitive information.
Simplifying and Modernizing the Provision of Healthcare Services
1stGroup is building a trusted digital healthcare platform and community as the first point of contact for consumers in need of healthcare. Its platform, along with its solutions, brings convenience to an otherwise complex and time-consuming process.
For consumers, it’s a secure and easy-to-use means to engage with professionals with key strengths like online search with many criteria, online booking, telehealth consults, follow-ups, prescriptions, and payments. So, some consumers can access healthcare services and information quickly, at any time, from anywhere.
For healthcare providers, it offers several powerful tools like patient management systems, value-added apps, feedback forms, survey tools, rich patient educational materials, referral systems, telehealth products, online payments, and more. These solutions solve critical business challenges of the industry by automating and simplifying routine activities, improving profitability, customer experience, and overall growth.
In addition, 1stGroup manages three vast healthcare portals. First, ‘MyHealth1st’, a reliable digital solution for customers to stay updated with healthcare providers, from any stage of their healthcare journey. Second, ‘PetYeti’, a powerful digital solution specially designed to serve veterinarians. And third is ‘GoBookings’, an innovative service for businesses to tailor scheduling solutions for customers.
Overlooking the Industry during the COVID-19 Pandemic
“The healthcare industry has been resistant to change for a long time. But the COVID-19 pandemic has put new pressure on everyone. It has suddenly forced everyone online and the healthcare landscape has been changed forever. Fortunately, consumers have learned that they can avail healthcare services online as well,” Mr. Klaus says.
1stGroup’s completely online business model ensured the continued delivery of services, without any disruption from COVID-19. For the past two months, however, it has been fast-tracking its business, developing screening systems, helping healthcare providers continually serve patients, helping independent practitioners set up telehealth systems, and mitigate risks.
Deeply Committed to Create Positive Outcomes in the Industry
“We are deeply passionate about the impact we have in the healthcare industry. We are tremendously motivated to create and drive positive outcomes in healthcare. We are very collaborative, caring, open, experimentative, and supportive. We are committed to realizing the best quality services and outcomes,” Mr. Klaus explains.
Proactively Leading Healthcare towards a Brighter Future
1stGroup is now listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and it actively partakes in initiatives to improve healthcare. Its latest ventures are ‘Look Deeper’, an award-winning eye health awareness campaign, and ‘St. Vincent’s Priority’, Australia’s pioneering referral system for patients, general practitioners, and specialists.
Modern consumers understand that online channels bring in much higher convenience standards. Because of the ease-of-access and simplicity that 1stGroup provides, so many people have been benefitting from being able to act in their moment of need or concern.
“Realizing positive outcomes is the primary driver for everything we do. Our long-term roadmap is to continue digitalizing the key elements of the patient care experience. We know that there is a critically important role to be played in helping the industry embrace the latest in technology and for this, we are here to stay,” Mr. Klaus sums it up.