OSHC insurance project
NSW Study
June 2023
Intelligent medical treatment portable machine: It combines consultation, appointment, medicine purchase, medical test, insurance reimbursement, and insurance add-on purchase.
Brainstorm
To address the question, "How might we reduce the cost of living pressures for people in Australia?" we conducted a brainstorming session. Through this process, we identified several key issues。
After conducting an analysis of these issues, we found that healthcare costs are particularly severe and current measures are inadequate to address them. This insight led us to focus our project on mitigating healthcare costs as a critical component of reducing overall living expenses in Australia.
Findings
Temporary visa holders as a part of arrivals’ population, especially international students coming to purchase tertiary education, are required to spend on expensive private health insurance and often do not have any income (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2023), which may create financial pressure in accessing health care services. The increasing demand for healthcare services emphasizes the need for adequate funding and resources to meet this growing demand.
Issues
Several interviewees have expressed apprehension regarding these expenses, as they perceive them to be prohibitively costly and not commensurate with the value of the insurance coverage they receive.
Some students may not fully understand their insurance coverage or the resources available to them through their college or university, such as on-campus health services that are more affordable or free for students.
User needs
Individual: incomplete information, weak ability to use health insurance, language barriers Structural: low reimbursement, poor student concessionality, poor promotion, incomplete insurance services (negative competition from insurance companies)
1. Expend the OSHC coverage range
2. Reduce laboratory costs (blood testing and X-ray)
3. Reduce the price of the Insurance purchased
4. A more convenient way to learn about the purchased insurance privileges
5. Break the limited usage location for the OSHC, and may be can use the price match
Persona
In this project, personas played a crucial role in ensuring that our solutions were user-centered and effectively addressed the needs of our target audience. By creating detailed personas, we were able to empathise with international students, understand their specific pain points regarding healthcare and living costs, and tailor our designs to better meet their needs. This approach allowed us to develop more relevant and impactful solutions, as each design decision was guided by a deep understanding of the users' experiences and challenges.
Ideation
In this project, we identified that overseas student health insurance (OSHC) is a significant concern and cost component for international students through the analysis of existing issues and user needs. To address this, we created a smart medical portable device:
This device integrates various medical services, including consultations, appointments, medication purchases, insurance claims, and additional coverage options.
The device connects hospitals and clinics, enabling seamless data sharing.
It links to users' insurance plans to match reimbursement rates and limits, eliminating upfront payments, streamlining claims, and supporting online consultations.
Patient records are stored, reducing the need for repeated tests and prescription retention issues.
Prototype
The Intelligent Medical Treatment Portable Machine integrates healthcare services like consultation, appointment scheduling, medicine purchase, medical tests, insurance reimbursement, and add-on insurance. It connects hospitals and clinics, allowing seamless data sharing. The machine links the user's insurance products, matching reimbursement rates and limits. It eliminates upfront payments, simplifies claims, and enables online consultations. Patient records are stored, reducing repetitive examinations. The machine facilitates direct medication purchases, benefiting patients with chronic illnesses.
Functions
Intelligent medical treatment portable machine: It combines consultation, appointment, medicine purchase, medical test, insurance reimbursement, and insurance add-on purchase.
(1) This machine links the insurance products purchased, automatically matching the reimbursement rates and limits of different types of insurance, and the patient without the need to prepay for consultation and medicine and then uploading and receiving claims.
(2) By this shared platform, it is possible to make appointments directly with the best clinics and hospitals that match the patient's insurance, and patients can also consult online.
(3) This system breaks the segregation between each clinic. The patient's medical records and laboratory reports will be stored in their personal medical history.
Reflection
Before high-fidelity prototyping, user testing and peer review results often reveal inadequacies and poorly thought-out issues. For example, overlapping functionalities and page-jumping issues can highlight the need for a clearer user experience. Additionally, implementing numerous machines might increase the financial pressure on insurance companies and medical providers, which could then be passed on to patients through higher costs for physical therapy.
In this project, I led the entire process from research to development. This included conducting detailed background investigations to identify problems, developing two potential solutions, and proposing optimizstions for the OSCH insurance system.
