With six locations across Melbourne's western suburbs, IPC Health delivers a wide spectrum of care, from GP services to allied and mental health support, designed to meet the diverse needs of its community. As the organisation grows, so has the complexity of its operations. Recognising the opportunity to optimise processes and enhance both client and staff experiences, IPC Health partnered with Impact Co. to drive meaningful change. Through a detailed Time-in-Motion Study, we identified inefficiencies, highlighted opportunities for streamlining, and developed a model for ongoing process improvement. The result? Actionable insights that promise to boost operational efficiency and elevate the client journey across the organisation.

The problem-solving process

The 11-week project unfolded through multiple stages, following an iterative process by which we mapped the current processes, collected the data, analysed it, and provided recommendations to help IPC Health reach its goals.

1. Understanding Processes Impact Co. began by working closely with IPC Health’s teams to document current processes, map out client journeys, and identify areas with potential inefficiencies. Through visual maps, we illustrated complex workflows, highlighting duplicative tasks, bottlenecks, and areas for improvement. This stage offered IPC Health valuable insight into how their existing processes impacted both clients and staff.
2. Data Collection: Real-Time and Retrospective Time Tracking To capture accurate data, we employed a mixed-method approach combining live time tracking and retrospective time estimates. Staff recorded time spent on specific tasks through a specialised software tool, while retrospective data was gathered through a survey to gain a well-rounded view. This combined approach allowed IPC Health to capture both actual time on task and the estimated time for an even more robust analysis.
3. Segmenting Client Journeys for Nuanced Understanding Recognising that not all client journeys are identical, we segmented these to capture unique steps within each pathway. Each variation in the client’s journey—such as differences in intake procedures or follow-up steps—revealed distinct impacts on time and cost. For instance, if a client missed an initial intake call, it often triggered a set of additional processes, thereby extending the time- and cost-to-serve.
4. Analysis and Time-to-Serve Model Once data was collected, we collaborated with IPC Health’s managers to validate the findings, ensuring an accurate portrayal of task durations, removing any outliers. We used this validated data to calculate a trimmed mean across both live and retrospective data, inputting this into a comprehensive time-to-serve model. This model not only illustrated the time but also the associated costs, helping IPC Health understand the financial impact of each process. For example, by redesigning the intake process to assess multiple service needs at the initial entry point, IPC Health could streamline follow-ups and reduce the need for consumers to go through multiple assessment processes with different allied health practitioners. These modifications served to improve the overall client experience.

Solutions and Key Learnings

The final deliverable included a reusable time-to-serve model and a detailed report outlining time- and cost-to-serve across two different intake and assessment models delivered at IPC Health. Alongside these deliverables, Impact Co. conducted workshops with IPC Health staff, imparting knowledge to help them replicate this study independently in the future. This ability to self-assess will allow IPC Health to continuously improve their processes and adapt and measure any new operational changes.

In the post-analysis workshop, we reviewed the insights gleaned and discussed opportunities for future efficiency gains. Key learnings included:

• Importance of Client Journey Segmentation: Segmenting the client journey provided IPC Health with deeper insights into how varied client needs impact time and cost-to-serve. This level of detail will help in understanding, anticipating and responding to understand and anticipate different client needs more effectively than isolated task analysis could achieve.
• Refined Data Collection: Collecting real-time data yielded higher accuracy, and by conducting this study over a longer period of time, IPC Health would have a more robust dataset through which they could capture more nuanced client interactions and further indicators on the operational costs.
• Enhanced Process Adaptability: By making the time-to-serve model adaptable, IPC Health could periodically re-evaluate its processes without needing external intervention, ensuring continuous improvement over time.

Lasting Impact on Client Experience and Operational Efficiency

The Time-in-Motion Study supported IPC Health with insights into immediate efficiency gains while also laying the foundation for an ongoing culture of improvement. Through identifying opportunities for enhanced internal processes, IPC Health now has the tools to improve the client experience, reducing the need for them to retell their stories repeatedly, instead moving to a more integrated and seamless experience across services. This ultimately reflects a shift toward a truly client-centred model of care.

This project exemplifies how investing in internal efficiencies can directly improve the client experience, demonstrating that operational streamlining and client satisfaction are interconnected. For Impact Co., this partnership represents a successful step in building better models of care within the community health sector—helping organisations like IPC Health foster sustainable change that benefits both their clients and their teams.