The $24.2 million project has copped a lot of flak for its poor engagement from doctors. But the department is holding fast that it’s an asset, reaching one million users.
Medical Costs Finder has reached the one million users milestone. But are those users getting any value from the $24.2 million service?
Speaking at Senate Estimates yesterday, the assistant secretary of DoHAC’s health system strategy division Brian Kelleher said the number of people who had visited the website had reached one million, with approximately 60,000 new users a month.
The number of doctors registered remains lacklustre – albeit improved – at 218, with only 73 choosing to publish their costs.
The cost for the website remains a whopping $24.2 million.
Independent Senator for the ACT David Polcock queried how the department was measuring the site’s success.
First assistant secretary for health systems strategy Ross Hawkins said a key success measure was people visiting the website.
Mr Hawkins said 70% of consumers supported the concept of an independent and authoritative website about costs.
When asked whether they had data on whether anyone was actually exploring the website, via bounce rates, for example, Mr Hawkins said they would have to look into their analytics data.
“The feedback we’re getting is that people find having median costs useful,” he said.
“[I] appreciate that the number of specialists [registered] is lower than anticipated, but actually in terms of providing those median prices across 1300 different services, giving people an idea of what that’s like locally, giving them indications around the patient journey, out of pocket costs, it’s a useful tool that people engage with.
“Broadly from the indicators, we see around 60,000 new users tipping in over a total of one million users to date and feedback we’re getting from consumer groups, it’s coming across to us as [a] positive experience engaging with the website.
“But again, we’re always happy to work with groups and take feedback and further refine the experience.”
When asked about the possibility of publishing specialist costs without voluntary doctor registration, Mr Kelleher said this was not the path chosen by the department.
“The numbers are low … but we proceeded down the path of engaging with medical specialists on a voluntary basis, and that was a decision that the government took at the time,” he said.
“The department does not generally publish highly disaggregated fee information for medical benefit services.
“That’s why, at this point in time, information on the website is delivered at an aggregate level.”
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Minister for Finance, Women, and the Public Service Katy Gallagher said the department had been engaging with the health minister about how to strengthen the website.
“It was started, and then nothing, [or] very little, was done,” she said.
“Minister Butler is keen to make sure it’s providing as useful a service as it can.
“But the reality in health is you do need to work collaboratively with all stakeholders if you’re going to make something a success. It’s simply the reality of the health system.
“And so that does mean working with specialists, doctors and consumer groups to make sure it’s doing what it needs to do.
“But our view is more transparent, more access to information, the better, and the minister’s working on that.”
