The National Injury Insurance Scheme Queensland (NIISQ)
In 2023 QUT partnered with the National Injury Insurance Scheme Queensland (NIISQ) for a transformative sprint. NIISQ serves a crucial function in Queensland’s public health system, providing support to individuals who have been seriously injured on our roads.
The Pre-Sprint phase uncovered that as a young scheme, NIISQ was in a position to define, reshape and improve how participants interact with NIISQ throughout their life. NIISQ legislation positions independence, participant goals choice, control, and collaboration as key principles for the funding of effective and evidence-based treatment, care, and support. For the sprint team, the project focus was an interplay between three elements:
- Maintain and improve the core value of funding treatment, care and support for each participant
- Design new models of engagement that allow participants to choose how and when they need to engage with NIISQ.
- Develop concepts to ensure that the scheme as a whole can be managed sustainably.
The sheer quantity of administration and communication surrounding a complex injury is hard to manage. Staying across your information is even harder. Having to retell your story is the hardest. Every aspect of an injury, someone’s pre-existing condition and the subsequent effects, sends participants on an odyssey of assessments, tests, reports, diagnoses, medications and rehabilitations. The team quickly realised there was a need for clients to access an easy-to-use digital dashboard that would allow them to simply navigate and understand all of this complex info in one place. It needed to be intuitive and uncomplicated as its users had diverse needs and abilities following injury. The overall goal was to create a new digital platform to reduce administration, improve client experience, and eliminate unnecessary hurdles in receiving the treatment, care and support required without having the feeling of always needing to go through a government agency.
During the Sprint phase, the MyNIISQ portal was co-created. MyNIISQ provides an accessible, user-centric, self-service digital dashboard that prioritises efficiency, embraces open innovation and fosters participant empowerment and independence after serious personal injury. It features personalisation algorithms, clear informational pathways, and a spectrum of assistive technologies, making recovery a digitised and dignified journey. By integrating advanced technology and human understanding, MyNIISQ provides clients with an easy-to-use platform where they can regain their independence and confidence, fostering not just a return to life’s daily rhythms but also empowering them to emerge stronger and more resilient. In fact, MyNIISQ is a prototype poised to reshape industry standards. The Sprint also unveiled other practical and effective strategies that NIISQ have since employed to further empower their clients with seamless experiences, boost engagement and drive business growth.
Motor Accident Insurance Commission (MAIC)
We thank MAIC for this article
The Motor Accident Insurance Commission (MAIC) called in world-class experts in digital innovation and business workflows to help design a better end-to-end CTP claimant experience. Professor Marek Kowalkiewicz and Peter Townson from Queensland University of Technology’s (QUT) Centre for Future Enterprise, MAIC, Nominal Defendant, National Injury Insurance Agency, Queensland (NIISQ Agency) and more than 20 insurers, lawyers, allied health professionals and other industry stakeholders joined forces to explore concepts at the MAIC QUT Innovation Sprint Showcase. David Vincent, General Manager, MAIC said the Sprint reflected the MAIC’s commitment to working with stakeholders to ensure the CTP scheme remains stable and accessible to all Queenslanders.
To have stakeholders from licensed CTP insurers, claimant law firms, allied health firms, research organisations and representative bodies come together with MAIC and QUT to explore opportunities with the current Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance claim process highlights our commitment to improving the scheme. Collaborating with these organisations has enabled MAIC and QUT to develop innovative concepts that prioritise claimant-centric service design and that leverage digital tools to streamline the claims process.
David Vincent, General Manager, MAIC
Digital Transformation with Queensland Government Office of State Revenue
In 2017, the Queensland Government Office of State Revenue (OSR) engaged CDE to transform the processes of revenue collection, as part of the OSR’s $80million digital transformation program.
The engagement involved five process transformation sprints, a methodology where CDE and OSR co-designed new service delivery models and business processes. Implementation roadmaps were provided for the co-created solutions across 20-days, 20-months, 2030 timeframes, noting alignment with other digital transformation program initiatives. The proposed solutions were assessed on (i) technical feasibility, by working closely with the OSR’s existing technology vendor, (ii) business viability, by cross-referencing ideas with departmental strategy, budgets, policy, and legislation, and (iii) stakeholder desirability, by testing ideas with taxpayers, staff, and other stakeholders involved in the end-to-end process of revenue collection. This highly collaborative approach, coupled with the CDE Disruptive Innovation Leadership Course to uplift staff capability in a digital innovation mindset, provided a cultural foundation to enact this change under the digital transformation program.
Deputy Commissioner, Simon McKee notes that: “In the past, we thought we were subject matter experts. We designed our digital solutions and processes around this and then we trained our staff [and] trained our taxpayers or clients,” he said. “Under the program, we completely flipped that approach… We ran a series of process sprints – five sprints over eight weeks. “We brought in taxpayers, industry, staff to understand what matters to them. Not what they wanted, but what they need. A subtle, but important difference. “We wanted their experience to be the best it could be. We then adjust our digital roadmap and redesign processes through digital ends, always with the client at the center” (IT News, 2019).
Spin-off Projects
The 3-year partnership with CDE has involved collaboration with over 250 staff, citizens, and experts across six engagements, including innovation and process sprints, workshops, and executive education. Across all the engagements, research and academic inquiry questioned existing norms, reimagined the relationship between the citizen journey and the process of state tax administration, and sought to design-out non-compliance, creating confidence within traditionally complex systems.
“Our trusted partnership with CDE has provided OSR with the foundations (e.g. design thinking, disruptive leadership change, process redesign..), mindset and new insights that have helped us continue to successfully deliver an ambitious Transformation Program. (Simon McKee, 2019)
Recognition
Cumulatively, the engagement has initiated fundamental changes to State Government revenue services, processes, and regulation. The legacy of these sprints will continue as the State Government “has announced a proposed review of the design of the current royalty regime to address existing uncertainty in the calculation of royalties” (Deloitte Access Economics, 2019, p.12). Further, the Revenue and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2019 assented to State Parliament on 17 June, proposes changes to land tax, payroll tax, royalties, and duties. Twenty percent of the clauses in this bill improve how citizens and government communicate and share information with one another, a critical recommendation of the CDE-OSR engagements.
CDE is proud to see the engagement with OSR will lead to ongoing compliant revenue collection to deliver essential services for the State.
Sprints in the news
Thank you to The Conversation for this article on QUT’s Research Innovation Sprints.
Ready to innovate with QUT?
Embarking on a Research Innovation Sprint with QUT is an exhilarating opportunity to propel your business forward. Your next step is to connect with the QUT team here at the Centre for Future Enterprise by emailing future.enterprise@qut.edu.au. From there we will guide you through the application process, connect you with the appropriate resources, and help set the wheels in motion for your innovation journey. Remember, the pathway to innovation starts with a single step—take that step with QUT today.
For more information, contact Design Sprint facilitators, Prof Marek Kowalkiewicz and Peter Townson.
marek.kowalkiewicz@qut.edu.au | peter.townson@qut.edu.au