Overview
Initiative type
Model of Care
Status
Deliver
Published
June 2026
Summary
Automating Australian Rehabilitation Outcome Centre (AROC) reporting via Power Automate saved 180 hours annually whilst eliminating transcription errors. This scalable solution allows timely benchmarking, and has returned five FTE weeks to patient care.
Dates: September 2025 - February 2026
Implementation sites: Princess Alexandra Hospital
Aim
To automate work processes, reduce administrative burden, and ensure timely Australasian Rehabilitation Outcomes Centre (AROC) data submission within the Princess Alexandra (PA) Hospital In-reach Rehabilitation Service.
Outcomes
- Conservatively saved 180 hours/year (≈ 5 weeks FTE) using existing digital resources with zero additional spending or costs.
- Streamlined workflow with improved data accountability, allowing clinicians to rapidly identify and rectify missing data errors.
- Established a standardised outcome data format in collaboration with AROC biostatisticians.
- Built a SharePoint Power-Automate flow to batch-process 50 programs simultaneously, eliminating transcription risks and double-handling.
- Created a scalable blueprint ready for potential implementation across other rehabilitation units within Queensland Health.
Background
In rehabilitation, we are always innovating to ensure the best possible care and outcomes for our patients. The Australasian Rehabilitation Outcomes Centre (AROC) provides vital benchmarking and performance feedback for rehabilitation services across Australia and New Zealand. While these insights are essential for guiding service delivery in Metro South Health, the submission process has historically presented a significant time investment. The dataset contains 120 fields, including specialised outcomes requiring input from multiple disciplines within the team.
Previously at the PA Hospital, this data had to be collected and manually entered by an administration officer into the AROC online portal. This manual workflow created a significant bottleneck. It relied on a tedious "back-and-forth" loop where administrative staff had to constantly chase clinicians to rectify missing data or transcription errors. This "double handling" wasted time for all staff, increasing the risk of burnout and reducing capacity for direct patient interaction.
The PA Hospital In-reach Rehabilitation Service receives approximately 900 referrals annually and maintains a caseload of 20–25 active rehabilitation packages. Given this high turnover, regularly reviewing our processes and ensuring service sustainability is critical. As robust data collection was already embedded in our clinical service profile, we identified an opportunity to eliminate the administrative burden. This project was established as a local clinician-led initiative to replace manual entry with software automation, enabling the direct, accurate upload of outcomes to AROC.
Methods
We employed a standardise, automate, and validate methodology to transform the AROC reporting process. Following technical consultation with AROC, we adopted their fixed-width plaintext specification for direct dataset submission. We engaged the Medical Director and Digital Health stakeholders early to ensure the solution strictly adhered to Queensland Health data governance and security policies. The technical solution utilises standard Microsoft 365 infrastructure to minimise cost and complexity. We developed a Microsoft SharePoint and Power Automate flow to automatically verify, collate, and format outcome data.
Key features of this initiative included:
- Future-Proofing: The flow and output specification is configured via a simple Excel table. This allows for rapid, clinician-led code-free updates if AROC variables or formats change in the future.
- Smart Logic: The system uses conditional logic to ensure that only the required information is collected and sent to AROC
- Accountability: The output includes a "missing data" summary which is emailed out to the team, outlining who is responsible for each of the missing data fields.
- Output: The flow automatically generates a compliant fixed-width upload file, which was internally verified by AROC.
This architecture enables the batch processing of up to 50 rehabilitation episodes simultaneously, significantly reducing administrative cycle time. We operationalised this with a monthly schedule for data checks and uploads. The flow was successfully employed for 2025 reporting, and is embedded in the workflow for 2026. This project demonstrates that complex reporting burdens can be solved using accessible, standard digital tools.
Discussion
The transition to AROC data upload automation has delivered immediate, measurable returns on investment. Prior to implementation, AROC submission required over 20 minutes of manual handling per rehabilitation episode, not including extra time required to follow up missing data. Our Power Automate flow now collates and validates this data in approximately 3.5 minutes, with the capacity to batch-process 50 patient programs simultaneously.
Based on 542 completed programs in 2025, this initiative conservatively saves 180 labour hours annually - equivalent to five weeks FTE. Beyond time efficiency, the removal of manual transcription has significantly reduced double-handling and increased data accuracy. By shifting from retrospective ad-hoc data entry/upload to real-time data utilisation, the service can now evaluate its performance dynamically. This allows us to demonstrate agility, identifying trends and adapting care models to address service gaps far faster than the previous manual data entries allowed.
A critical success factor was the operational context of the In-Reach Rehabilitation Service. As a relatively new service (established July 2024), we had already embedded robust data dictionaries including clear clinical role delineation for data collection. This existing structure provided the necessary logic for the automation to succeed. Limitations are currently focused on the quality of data entry. While the flow effectively identifies missing data, it does not yet validate field logic (e.g., date sequences), which can occasionally require manual remediation in the AROC online portal. However, the automated "missing data" emails have created a feedback loop that is steadily improving the team’s data literacy. Built on existing Queensland Health digital assets, this solution is highly scalable and cost-effective. The design is modular and can be rapidly replicated in other rehabilitation units with minimal adjustments. Future iterations will integrate advanced logic validation to maintain data quality. Ultimately, this initiative serves as a blueprint for sustainable, smart clinical reporting that can be deployed statewide.
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References
n/a
Key contact
Dr Sebastian Sodini
Previous In-reach Rehabilitation Team Registrar
Princess Alexandra Hospital
Metro South HHS