Methodology & Scope

In this review, we were tasked with undertaking a high-level holistic review of Healthylife’s risk exposure arising from Medmate’s pharmacy and prescribing functions. We must note that our focus on the review of Medmate—not how Healthylife engages, controls or works with Medmate; a separate review of Healthylife’s approach to engaging 3^rd parties would be a more appropriate forum for this.

Therefore, our approach is focussed on identifying risks borne by Medmate on the proviso that many of these are inherited by Healthylife, albeit usually based on reputational risk rather than legal risk.

To identify risks borne by Medmate, we’ve first established the universe, then carved this down to the most relevant actors in the “Medmate ecosystem” (per Key theory and concepts). Given our focus on pharmacy and prescribing, these key actors are Patient, Doctor, Pharmacy, Delivery Partner, and Medmate itself.

By interrogating each of these key actors and the policy/process that identifies and treats risk arising from them, we can form a holistic view of risk exposure. For example, we establish the conceptual lifecycle of a pharmacy in the ecosystem, review the supporting processes (onboarding, maintenance, offboarding, exception handling, etc.) and assess whether these processes sufficiently capture and treat risk—we’re seeking to identify where continuity between policy and operations isn’t upheld.

In assessing Medmate itself, we’re focussed on two primary aspects: how Medmate manages itself (its governance), and how Medmate’s systems (software, people) support the implementation of adopted policy.

While we aren’t conducting a management review per se, reviewing some elements of management helps us to understand how risk is managed in Medmate. For example, we scrutinise the flow of personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI) between various actors and systems, and importantly the treatments that have been applied. We review the management structure, how Medmate considers and treats risks when standing up programs like Quitmate and its weight management initiatives.

Moreover—and potentially more importantly—we explored how potential future programs would be considered by Medmate management (for example, the integration of AI technology) and therefore we can form a view on how Healthylife may be exposed to risk under this partnership over the medium-term.

Our review also serves to document the distribution of risk—both real and perceived—across the Medmate ecosystem. We establish this view from defining and reviewing:

The defined policy and process to support risk management, and potential gaps
The clarity in each actor’s role and responsibility within the ecosystem
The broader compliance with legislation and regulatory bodies
The mechanisms through which quality implementation of the adopted policy/compliance efforts by these actors are monitored and/or enforced, e.g. do contractual service level agreements (SLAs) with pharmacies reflect Medmate’s position on how the pharmacy treats risk? Are contracts sufficiently transferring risk to the right entity?
How risks are identified, policies are developed, and mechanisms are chosen/implemented in a structured manner
The management of broader ecosystem, notably the systems and data generated by these actors and systems.

Through these elements, we can define which entities carry risk and provide Healthylife a clear view on residual risk and overall posture within the Medmate business for consideration.

It’s important to note the scope and limitations of this analysis; this review was conducted in a compressed timeframe (less than one month), and thus our focus was on areas where we were most likely to uncover adverse risk to Healthylife. Further, we acknowledge parallel reviews ongoing within the Medmate business, covering other business functions; cybersecurity and legal reviews are out-of-scope, for example.

Ordinarily, we would couple this high-level review with a detailed analysis to prove the discussed policy/process/risk treatments were truly adopted and effective. For example, statistical analysis on the outcomes of a process would enable us to comment on the true effectiveness of a risk treatment—this has been scoped out for this time-sensitive review. Our approach delivers comprehensive coverage in the timeframe available, but additional investigatory opportunities should be considered to confirm the findings and further improve the risk posture.

The culmination of our efforts is a comprehensive report, presented in a consumable “Q&A” format for review by both Medmate and Healthylife stakeholders, facilitating informed decision-making and risk mitigation strategies.

Delivery team

This review was undertaken with the following team:

Todd Crowley

Managing Director

As the Founder and Managing Director of Vaxa Group, Todd is a Solution Design, Strategy, and Management professional with over 20 years practical experience, designing and delivering commercial and operational solutions for government, for- purpose, and commercial organisations across the Indo Pacific and Australasia. He has national and international consulting, middle-market, and advisory experience – including in the areas of business strategy, diagnostics, risk analysis, forecasting, value creation and benefit realisation.

Curtis West

Director - Analytics

Curtis is a data analytics specialist, business analyst and software engineer leading the Vaxa Analytics team. Curtis’ focus is on helping organisations understand their data and how to use it to grow. His effectiveness is underpinned by his wealth of experience, ranging from developing custom software through to strategic planning of the highest order. Most importantly, Curtis is driven by a true understanding of a business end-to-end and delivering solutions that actually address the true root-cause of growth constraints.

Jesper Antonsen

Health Management Specialist

For over 20 years, Jesper has led significant renewal and transformational change across State and Federal Governments including statutory bodies. He is a trusted advisor, working with Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales Health departments, and has delivered significant policy reform for NSW and QLD Treasury and Public Service Commission in health care. Jesper’s health experience spans across service delivery models, health service redesign, digitisation of health, funding, program delivery and service commissioning. In Queensland Jesper lead the Government procurement response to COVID-19 and commissioned health services to support quarantine and isolation.

Russell Bowles

Health Management Specialist

Russell has more than 40 years of experience working in the health sector including most recently as the Commissioner of the Queensland Ambulance Service. Russell is results focused and quality driven with a demonstrated history of running a complex pre-hospital health care system. Russell commenced pre-retirement leave from the role of Commissioner for the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) in August 2021. Under Russell’s leadership, the QAS has transformed from a system that was constantly in the media and public arena to a trusted organisation with a reputation for delivering high quality health services. He has outstanding interpersonal skills with an emphasis on building and maintaining strong relationships with uncompromising integrity.

Grace Engwerda

Health Consultant

Grace specialises in Applied Mathematics and Science. Grace has exceptional mathematical modelling, data analytics and reporting skills along with a solution-oriented mindset and exceptional attention to detail. She is enthusiastic about health care and management and brings a passion for working with people and applying her technical skills to enhance people’s lives.