1st Group prides itself on its record of continued innovation when it comes to patient engagement and ease of online booking available through its MyHealth1st platform. Ever since the company was founded, the team at 1st Group has worked diligently to innovate upon and improve every part of the products and services provided. As part of this history of improvement, we have redesigned MyHealth1st.com.au from the ground up to be more friendly for practices to connect with the public, and for Australians to get the healthcare they need, whenever they need it.
Every aspect of the new look website was designed to make the process of searching for healthcare easier, faster and more efficient than ever before, so we can drive more patients to your door.
SPEED AND EFFICIENCY
The site redesign makes searching faster, giving patients a better experience and boosting clickthrough. Not only do pages load faster thanks to a streamlined design, but the actual search functionality allows patients to find the healthcare they need faster and more intuitively than ever before.
In the old version of MyHealth1st.com.au, patients had to input a number of parameters to search for a provider (providing they weren’t searching by name), including the modality of the healthcare provider, the location, and type of appointment they are looking for. One of the key reasons for the redesign of the search system was to cut down on any clutter or confusion that a number of search variables may cause. The new search system simplifies the search to two criteria - the modality of medical professionals being searched for and the location. The search defaults to in-person appointments but people searching can also choose video or phone telehealth appointments.
SMART SEARCH FUNCTIONALITY
The search uses smart algorithms to make the search results more useful. If no practice of the searched type is available to service a location, the search will suggest practices in other locations that offer telehealth. Likewise, if no practice type is chosen, all relevant practices operating in the chosen location will be shown.
Below the search are fields for both locality based recommendations and locality based practitioners. Doctor recommendations are personalised based on the location of the search, and loaded in a way that patients are always presented with a diverse range of practice modalities. The doctor recommendations show doctors in the area from which the search is being made with immediate or ready availability.What this means for your practice is that potential patients will have a much easier and faster time both finding and booking an appointment with your practice.
MOBILE FIRST DESIGN
The website upgrades aren’t limited to speed and ease of use. The team has added a number of features to improve the patient experience and increase booking volume, not the least of which is full mobile optimisation. Globally, mobile phone internet usage accounts for nearly 52% of online traffic . MyHealth1st users are at the forefront when it comes to browsing on mobile devices, with almost 65% of MyHealth1st users searching for and booking their healthcare needs via mobile. The new design makes it faster and easier to search and book with a mobile device than before, again making it much easier for patients to find and book an appointment with your practice.
SEO FOCUS
The site has also been optimised for on page SEO, making it easier for users to find practice profiles in a Google search. One of the key aspects of this SEO approach is redesigned practice profile pages. Practice profile pages now contain individual practitioner profiles. These profiles allow each practitioner to highlight their experience and expertise, further increasing the online presence of your practice by making it easier for users to search for both your practice and your practitioners via the MyHealth1st marketplace as well as through a Google search.
Learn more about how to optimise your practice profile to grow your bookings - here.
SMART BOOKING
Until now, patients have rarely known what kind of payment options are available at a practice until they arrive at the front desk. People searching for healthcare through the MyHealth1st marketplace are able to see available payment options before they book an appointment.
This means that patients can choose practices by their preferred form of payment, such as credit card or BNPL payment plans offered by our partners, Openpay , Afterpay and LatitudePay . If a patient chooses a BNPL partner (Openpay, AfterPay or LatitudePay) as their preferred method of payment, this information is attached to the booking, letting a practice know that it is how the patient will be paying. The patient is also able to create an account with their preferred provider during the booking, cutting down on front desk congestion. Instead of arriving at the practice, opting for a payment plan, having to create an account and await approval, patients can sign up and be approved in advance, making payment a breeze.
MyHealth1st previously allowed users to create an account making it easier to book appointments, but the process was located outside of the booking flow. With the redesign, account creation has been simplified and brought into the booking process. Patient profiles can also be used to manage multiple bookings - a mother can make an appointment for herself as well as her children using the same account. The new account creation process allows users to create an account in a few simple clicks, vastly increasing the number of users with accounts on MHealth1st.Practices benefit from increased loyalty and retention from patients with a MyHealth1st account. Users with accounts have proven to be more likely to book subsequent appointments with a practice they have previously visited due to the fact that they can book a new appointment with that practice with only a few clicks.
MORE TO COME
The new look MyHealth1st.com.au is only the start of the website redesign, over the coming months the team will be releasing a series of website updates designed to improve the MyHealth1st experience for both patients and practices alike, including a revamp of practice administration, further improvements to search, and more.
