In 2022, Healthdirect Australia partnered with the Australian Government as part of the post-acute phase of the national COVID Response to develop the ‘Living with COVID’ program. The program was a national approach to connecting COVID positive people with the right level of care and comprised a range of activities across Australian States and Territories. This report describes findings from an evaluation of four of these key activities in Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales. 

The Living with COVID model of care aimed to assist COVID positive people with a low to medium risk of hospitalisation to self-manage their care at home and/or in consultation with their usual GP. The evaluation adopted a mixed-methods approach with two key objectives: 

• to evaluate the effectiveness of the Living with COVID program from the perspective of COVID-positive people
• to evaluate GP engagement with and perceived usefulness of secure message notifications sent by Healthdirect Australia. 

Overall, the evaluation found the program had supported patient care through efficient triage and by connecting people to primary care, enabling early intervention to enhance health outcomes. The program was also found to have contributed to a reduced patient flow through GP and hospital doors, leading to significant resource and budget savings. The program allowed patients to access the right care at the right time. It provided opportunities to streamline communication, care and tasks to improve care. The program also demonstrated its potential as an agile solution that could be scaled up and down as demand dictated.