A flagship Digital Health CRC (DHCRC) project has earned national recognition for its strong collaboration between industry and the research sector.
The Actionable Dashboards Accreditation Project (ADAPt) was awarded the Emerging Collaboration of the Year Award at last night’s Excellence in Innovation Awards, hosted by Cooperative Research Australia, and sponsored by Edith Cowan University. The award recognises the project’s collaborative success and demonstration of clear, measurable benefits even at an early stage.
The ADAPt project was established in 2021 by the DHCRC in collaboration with Monash University, Eastern Health, Department of Health Victoria, and the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards. The project addresses a long-standing challenge across the health sector: the reliance of health services on manual, retrospective and resource intensive processes to prepare for accreditation assessment against the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards.
With short-notice accreditation assessments now part of the NSQHS framework, health services need timely, day-to-day visibility of safety and quality performance—not periodic, retrospective reporting.
Delivering actionable insights
Developed through this close industry-research collaboration, the co-designed ADAPt platform transforms complex Electronic Medical Record (EMR) data into clear, actionable, near-real-time insights aligned with NSQHS standards.
Project Lead Associate Professor Michael Wybrow, from the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University, said the project showcases how clinical and information technology research can be translated into practical tools for health services.
“ADAPt demonstrates how a combination of expertise in clinical research, data engineering, and visualisation can be applied to real-world health system challenges to create positive change,” Associate Professor Wybrow said.
“Through a co-design process with clinicians, quality managers, and accreditation experts, the team was able to ensure the dashboards were not only technically robust, but also clinically meaningful and trusted for decision making.”
“It has been particularly satisfying to see the dashboards adopted in practice and used to support more informed, timely decision making.”
A new approach to accreditation and governance
The collaboration prioritised the integration of existing governance structures and workflows with the dashboard, adopting a “business as usual” approach embedded into Clinical Risk and Quality Governance Committees.
Eastern Health Director of Research, Dr David Taylor, said ADAPt has changed how the organisation approaches accreditation and quality governance.
“The Dashboards were implemented in Eastern Health sites, successfully supporting 117 measures across the eight NSQHS Standards. The dashboards are able to visualise more than 60,000 records daily from EMR data, demonstrating real-world impact under demanding conditions, and reducing the stress that can accompany the mandatory short-notice accreditation assessment process.”
ADAPt’s standards-aligned approach offers a pathway to scale consistent, data-enabled assurance beyond a single Eastern Health site as the EMR is implemented at other sites. DHCRC and project partners are now focused on enabling broader adoption by developing the technical requirements, implementation approach and evaluation needed to deliver deployment across additional health services.
Compared with traditional approaches, the dashboards reduce administrative burden, use full population data rather than samples, and provide assessors and executives with immediate access to current and historical performance information.
“Having timely, reliable data available through routine governance structures has improved confidence in our accreditation readiness and supported more proactive conversations about safety and quality,” Dr Taylor said.
Dr Karen Luxford, CEO of the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS), said the project demonstrated how accreditation requirements can be supported through data-enabled, best practice-based approaches.
“The ADAPt project was recognised for delivering tangible improvements in accreditation readiness while laying strong foundations for replication across other health services and jurisdictions,” Dr Luxford said.
“Alignment with NSQHS Standards provides a credible pathway for broader adoption, supported by ongoing economic evaluation and technical validation.”
Collaboration drives system-wide benefits
Sharon Hakkennes, Chief Digital Health Officer from the Victorian Department of Health, said the project aligns with broader system priorities around safety, quality, and effective use of data.
“Projects like ADAPt demonstrate the value of system-wide collaboration in supporting safer, more consistent approaches to accreditation and governance,” Ms Hakkennes said.
“Embedding data-enabled tools into routine practice helps create stronger assurance at both organisational and system levels.”
DHCRC CEO, Annette Schmiede said, the recognition highlights the value of research designed from the outset to support real-world decision-making in health services.
“Health services are operating in increasingly complex regulatory and clinical environments,” Ms Schmiede said.
“ADAPt shows how evidence-based digital solutions can be embedded into everyday practice to support continuous readiness, stronger governance and improved confidence in safety and quality data.”
ADAPt is looking to further expand to additional trial sites. To explore how ADAPt could support your Quality and Safety priorities, or to discuss broader deployment opportunities, contact info@dhcrc.com.
