Appendix A: Competitor analysis
Organisation | Core strengths / focus | Typical funders / income sources | Policy / system access | Why they matter to us | Projects |
UNSW ICFHS | Future health systems, primary care, equity | Philanthropy (e.g. foundations), government, NHMRC/ARC partnerships | High — senior leaders & international links (Oxford partnership) | Big profile; competes for policy commissions & high-profile grants. (UNSW Sites) |
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Macquarie AIHI | Implementation, safety, health info, economics | University funding, state & federal grants, commissioned work | Strong system relationships | Strong applied evaluation and improvement capability. (Macquarie University) | Strong health–digital–industry connections; some projects include tech vendors & govt e.g. e-health data integration, economic evaluation or care redesign |
QUT CHT / AusHSI | Implementation science, clinician partnerships | Commissioned projects, industry, grants | Good clinician/health service network | Practice-facing transformation — fast implementation. (QUT) | Clinical pathway redesign, digital care navigation |
Deakin IHT | Health economics, prevention, patient safety | Grants, policy contracts, modelling projects | Good policy engagement (state & national) | Deep modelling & economics capability for cost-effectiveness/policy work. (Deakin University) | Obesity/childhood obesity prevention programs Patient safety & quality improvement research |
RMIT Health Lab | Digital health, industry partnerships | Industry (eg Cisco), co-funded pilots, grants | Growing industry links | Digital transformation & rapid prototyping strengths. (healthlab.edu.au) | Strong collaboration across tech, health, community, and private sector e.g.s AI-enabled workforce tools, Digital pathway redesign projects |
Federation HITC | Rural/regional, AI/ML, workforce | Uni funding, regional grants, ARC small grants | Regional health service networks | Niche regional focus—good for rural commissions. (Federation University) | Digital health adoption in regional hospitals Personalised health analytics |
ACI (NSW) | System redesign, clinical networks | State (NSW) govt funding | Direct system implementation access | Competes for large-scale system redesign evaluations and implementation partnerships. (Agency for Clinical Innovation) | Redesign of statewide clinical models |
Appendix B: Key performance indicators
Through the coordinated efforts of the Impact Areas, we aspire to foster a vibrant and interconnected ecosystem that encourages ongoing collaboration, knowledge exchange, and innovation — engaging with other internal initiatives as well as external partners — to create fertile ground for new ideas, sustained partnerships, and transformative research outcomes. Within each Impact Area there will be separate projects that are aligned with the goals of the specific Impact Area and overall strategic initiative. The impact goals for each project are the critical element driving each program of work and measurable outcome targets will form a key component from inception and approval as an Impact Area project. Additionally, each project will have intrinsic milestones that may include development of a business case and funding strategy, applications for and receipt of funding, project progress milestones and final completion goals. However, there is also a need to have clearly defined measures of success for the overall program of activity across the Impact Areas to demonstrate achievement against the broader Advancing Health, Advancing Research 2030: Excellence for Impact and Advancing Melbourne strategies.
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To ensure the long-term sustainability and strategic impact of the Impact Areas, a robust and transparent KPI framework will underpin both individual project performance and the collective success of the program.
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- Demonstrating Strategic Alignment: KPIs will be explicitly mapped to the goals of Advancing Health, Advancing Research 2030: Excellence for Impact and Advancing Melbourne, ensuring that each project contributes meaningfully to institutional priorities and sector-wide transformation.
- Driving Accountability and Continuous Improvement: Regular tracking of KPIs — including project-specific milestones, funding outcomes, and partnership development — will enable timely course correction, promote best practice sharing across Impact Areas, and foster a culture of evidence-based decision-making.
- Supporting Reinvestment Decisions: Clear, measurable success indicators will provide a compelling basis for reinvestment in high-performing projects and Impact Areas. These indicators may include:
- Achievement of defined impact goals and milestone targets
- Demonstrated value creation through partnerships, innovation outputs, or translational outcomes
- Leverage of external funding and resource mobilisation
- Contribution to ecosystem development and cross-initiative collaboration
- Enabling Program-Level Evaluation: In addition to project-level KPIs, overarching program metrics will be established to assess the cumulative impact of the coordinated efforts across all Impact Areas. These may include:
- Growth in interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge exchange
- Expansion of strategic partnerships (internal and external)
- Uptake and scalability of research innovations
- System-level improvements in health and research outcomes
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This comprehensive KPI structure will not only guide project delivery but also serve as a foundation for strategic reinvestment, ensuring that resources are directed toward initiatives with the greatest potential for transformative impact.
Proposed KPIs:
- Within three years, establishment of at least ten major programs of collaborative research involving over 100 researchers across the Faculty, broader university and partner organisations.
- Achieve year-on-year growth in project funding to exceed a cumulative total of $25M within three years from competitive grants, government sponsorship, health system investment, industry support, and philanthropy.
- Within three years, establish partnerships in Impact Area projects with at least 20 organisations including MRIs, hospitals, health care providers, government departments, health insurers and private industry and achieve ongoing satisfaction within these partnerships.
- Engage community members, consumers and consumer organisations in research programs, with evidence of participation in design, governance, delivery, evaluation and outcomes assessment of projects, as relevant to project maturity and scope.
- Evidence of demonstrable research impact — recognising that timeframes will vary depending on the nature of the impact being measured — evidenced by measurable changes or benefits to scholarly knowledge, policy, practice, health outcomes, the environment, or quality of life.
KPIs and measures
KPI | Key Measures |
1. Establish at least ten major programs of collaborative research within three years, involving over 100 researchers across the Faculty, broader university, and partner organisations |
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2. Achieve year-on-year growth in project funding to exceed a cumulative total of $25M within three years |
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3. Establish partnerships in Impact Area projects with at least 20 organisations and maintain ongoing satisfaction within these partnerships |
Measure of partner satisfaction as part of an annual survey |
4. Engage community members, consumers, and consumer organisations in research programs |
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5. Demonstrate research impact — recognising variable timeframes depending on the nature of the impact |
Acknowledgment that time from project initiation to impact may differ by project and type of impact. |
Appendix C: Project summaries
Community health and wellbeing worker (CHWW)
Proactive outreach to enhance primary care integration and health equity
Vulnerable communities frequently experience barriers to accessing preventative health and social care, leading to delayed presentations and advanced disease stages at emergency departments.
This system gap is driven by a lack of awareness regarding primary care services (e.g., cancer screenings, health checks), mistrust of Western medical models, and cultural or logistical barriers.
There is a critical opportunity to shift from a reactive, referral-based model to a proactive, relationship-based outreach strategy that addresses these inequities at the household level.
Key Activities / Approach
The project utilises an implementation research and workforce innovation model. This involves:
- Upskilling embedded community members to serve as CHWWs within their own neighbourhoods.
- Proactive household outreach that requires no prior referral, focusing on building longitudinal relationships.
- Personalised signposting to navigate residents through the existing health and social care ecosystem.
- Evaluation of the model’s efficacy based on established international benchmarks (e.g., the Westminster and Cornwall sites) to ensure the role adds value without duplicating existing services.
Strategic Alignment
Relevant Transforming Healthcare priorities | Relieving high-pressure areas/tackling bottlenecks |
Alignment to Advancing Health, Advancing Research 2030: Excellence for Impact and Advancing Melbourne | The program embodies the partner for impact focus by translating global research done in Brazil and the UK and by working systematically with partners, to co-create solutions to future challenges. |
The program also aligns with the "Place" and "Community" themes of Advancing Health and Advancing Melbourne strategies, by deeply engaging with local residents to tackle challenges in health and social cohesion within our region. | |
Contribution to health system priorities | From a state or national lens, this project aligns with the Victorian Public Health and Wellbeing Plan 2023–2027, specifically the ‘Improving Wellbeing’ priority. |
Proposed Impact and Outcomes
- Short-term: Increased health literacy and trust within targeted communities; immediate connection of residents to appropriate primary and social care services.
- Medium-term: Improved uptake of preventative services, including increased vaccination rates and cancer screening participation.
- Long-term (System Level): Measurable reduction in emergency department presentations for preventable conditions; improved long-term population health outcomes; and demonstrated financial savings through a more efficient, integrated care model.
Partners and Stakeholders
Wyndham Vale City Council, Community Hubs Australia, NWM PHN, Mercy Health Paediatricians in Schools program
Stage of Maturity
Conception – early development
We have received seed funding to co-design the model that will be piloted.
Indicative Milestones
- Identify area of need and establish community partnerships (August – December 2025)
- Recruitment of community partners for co-design workshops (Jan – Feb 2026)
- Co-design workshops with community (March – May 2026)
- Develop model based on insights from co-design workshops (June – July 2026)
- Secure funding for pilot study (July – December 2027)
- Project pilot implementation (2028)
- Evaluation and evidence generation, plan for scalability (2028 onwards)
Person-Centred Value-Based Healthcare (PCVBHC)
Expanding and evaluating the use of the PerEmpo digital tool at the Royal Melbourne Hospital to provide high-value care
System Challenge / Opportunity
Traditional metrics like PROMS (health perception) and PREMS (care experience) fail to capture a patient’s specific values, goals, and treatment preferences.
Without aligning care to individual patient values, the health system risks delivering "low-value" or unwanted care, leading to decreased patient satisfaction and unnecessary healthcare expenditure.
Utilising tools such as the PerEmpo digital platform provides a scalable mechanism to facilitate structured shared-care conversations, ensuring medical interventions are ethically and clinically aligned with patient goals.
Key Activities / Approach
The project seeks to transition from anecdotal success to evidence-based practice. This involves:
- Conducting a rigorous multisite evaluation of PerEmpo across diverse outpatient clinics—including nephrology, respiratory medicine, and dermatology—using a quasi-control group to quantify shifts in care choices and health system costs.
- Performing qualitative in-depth interviews with ICU and admitting unit clinicians to identify feasibility, barriers and enablers for integrating value-based tools into high-pressure, acute environments.
- Investigating the clinical and operational requirements to empower a nurse-led initiative, ensuring person-centred care is embedded into business as usual through professional staff leadership.
- Aggregating granular patient values and goals to provide the health system with a scalable dataset that measures what matters to patients, informing resource allocation and service benchmarking.
Strategic Alignment
Relevant Impact Area priorities | Providing access to person-centred value-based care within the healthcare system |
Alignment to Advancing Health, Advancing Research 2030: Excellence for Impact and Advancing Melbourne | This program embodies the partner for impact focus by creating a research-rich environment that works with our precinct partner to translate knowledge into action for tangible societal benefit. |
This also supports the "Community" and "Discovery" of Advancing Health themes by partnering with RMH to solve complex health challenges through collaborative innovation. | |
Contribution to Faculty and health system priorities | Supports the Faculty’s goal of transforming local health outcomes and aligns with RMH’s strategic goal of "Being a great place to work and a great place to receive care.” and their value of People First. |
Proposed Impact and Outcomes
- Short-Term: Evidence-based understanding of PerEmpo’s feasibility and acceptability among patients and clinicians in outpatient settings.
- Medium-Term: Enhanced shared decision-making and increased empowerment for ICU and nursing staff to deliver compassionate, value-aligned care.
- Long-Term (System Level): Reduction in unwanted or low-value treatments (e.g., avoidable dialysis), significant healthcare cost savings, and the ability to benchmark person-centred care quality across services.
Partners and Stakeholders
Royal Melbourne Hospital clinics – renal, respiratory, dermatology clinics and ICU. Health economists, consumers
Current stage
Evaluation of effectiveness
Funding and Sustainability Considerations
Future integration relies on demonstrating reduced healthcare costs through the avoidance of low-value care, making it a prime candidate for health system investment or competitive grants
Indicative Milestones
- Finalisation of research protocols and ethics approval for all three study arms.
- Completion of the Outpatient Evaluation (Study 1) and cost-impact analysis.
- Delivery of the ICU Feasibility Report (Study 2) identifying enablers for critical care integration.
- Publication of the Nurse-Led Model Roadmap (Study 3) to support workforce transformation at RMH.
- If shown to be effective, development of a scale-up strategy for hospital-wide implementation based on generated evidence.
Work-Enhancement through Computational Assessment of Real Environments (WECARE)
Re-designing hospital work to increase staff satisfaction, retention, and improved patient care.
System Challenge / Opportunity
Australia faces a critical healthcare workforce shortage, with over 80% of major health professional groups reporting skill gaps in 2023.
Understaffing is most acute in outer suburban, regional, and rural hospitals, which jeopardises care quality and staff retention. Excessive paperwork and low-value tasks reduce the time available for direct patient care, driving job dissatisfaction and increasing the intention to leave among nursing and allied health staff.
Australia lacks a systematic, evidence-based approach to evaluate and restructure hospital work practices. That’s what WECARE seeks to address.
Key Activities / Approach
The project utilises a mixed-methods implementation research and workforce innovation model.
- Conduct semi structured interviews with key stakeholders to identify low-value care, workforce preferences, and outcomes to inform the model
- Conduct time and motion studies using the validated WOMBAT tool alongside stakeholder interviews and consumer focus groups to map "low-value" care.
- Build a relational database (PostgreSQL) and a skeleton simulation model to mimic real-life hospital dynamics and staff interactions.
- Stress-testing the model against common pressures (e.g., staff illness, high patient load) and ranking the top three preferred models with stakeholders based on cost-impact and end-user preference.
Strategic Alignment
Relevant Transforming Healthcare priorities | Reimagining our workforce |
Alignment to Advancing Health, Advancing Research 2030: Excellence for Impact and Advancing Melbourne | This project embodies the partner for impact focus in Advancing Melbourne by applying world-leading computational modelling and AI to deliver fit-for-purpose solutions for our partners. |
It also aligns with the "Place" and "Community" themes by partnering specifically with regional and metropolitan hospitals, while contributing to the global knowledge of workforce redesign. | |
Contribution to Faculty and health system priorities | Contributes to the Faculty’s goal of transforming local and regional health outcomes |
Supports the Victorian Department of Health's focus on strengthening rural and regional workforces and to leverage digital, data and technology solutions |
Proposed Impact and Outcomes
- Short-Term Impact: Reclaiming staff time from low-value tasks and identifying pain points through Time and Motion studies.
- Medium-Term Impact: Improved workforce satisfaction and retention through co-designed models-of-working and upskilling opportunities.
- Long-Term Impact (System level): Improved patient care quality and scalable health system reform that is adaptable across diverse service environments (metropolitan vs. regional) providing a national template for hospital workforce reform and informs Victorian policy through a comprehensive final report.
Partners and Stakeholders
Western Health, Albury-Wodonga Hospital, Department of Health, Safer Care Victoria, The Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Melbourne
Stage of Maturity
Design / Early implementation
Funding and Sustainability Considerations
Supported by the HCF Research Foundation and previous foundational research. The use of open-source software (PostgreSQL) and the creation of a transferable simulation platform ensure the model can be scaled and maintained across both public and private health sectors beyond the life of the grant.
Indicative Milestones
- Secure research funding (November 2025)
- Completion of with key stakeholder interviews (hospital execs, clinical units allied health, ward-based admin and consumer reps
- Completion of Time and Motion studies using the WOMBAT tool within general medicine wards in one metro, and one regional hospital, capturing geographic variance in work density.
- Database establishment and skeleton simulation model prototype development.
- Ranking top 3 models-of-working based on staff, computational assessment and cost-impact; delivery of the final report to government and translation workshops to inform state-wide workforce sustainability policy, regional resource allocation, and the safe, evidence-based integration of AI-assisted tools in ward-based care.