Case Study
UX Academy Course - February 2023
Research
To determine what difficulties or pain points people experience in the process of searching for a medical specialist and booking an appointment with them.
Why?
1 out of every 3 patients is referred to a specialist.
Whether through their PCP or self-search, the process is complicated and administrative errors happen often.
Goal
Determine what obstacles people face while searching for a specialist
Determine how insurance coverage and networks plays a role in choosing a specialist
Understand people’s behavior/actions while researching for a specialist to visit
Determine what resources people use when researching for a specialist
Determine how far people are willing to travel to go to a specialist
Determine what patients look for when choosing their specialist
Determine what, if any extra planning goes into this appointment
Objectives
Method
Secondary Research
Swot Analysis
After gathering the interview data, it was organized it into an affinity map to discover common patterns and themes.
Secondary research was conducted to find out more about patient referral systems and online appointment booking systems.
Interviews
Participants: 5 individuals between the ages of 20-30 (3 females and 2 males)
Method: Recorded zoom calls and documented answers to each question in an Excel spreadsheet.
General question topics:
Overall experience participants have had visiting or scheduling an appointment with a specialist.
Methods and resources used when searching for a specialist
Methods and resources when booking and scheduling appointments
Knowledge on transfering information/records to a new specialist
A SWOT analysis of popular doctor review sites and online booking platform (Zocdoc, Healthgrades, Nexhealth) was conducted to determine current features that are useful and features that could be improved.
Key insights were gathered from the affinity map and secondary research data, which was led to creating point-of-view statements (potential problems) and how-might-we questions (potential solutions).
Key Insight: There is a general confusion when it comes to figuring out what records or documents are needed for a visit, and how to transfer them over. There is a pattern of dissatisfaction with the way the process is done including: wanting a centralized system, wanting to avoid phone calls and emails to PCP, delayed transfers, not wanting to bring the documents in person.
POV Statement: I’d like to explore ways to help those who are looking to visit a specialist, to better understand what records are required and have a more efficient process of obtaining and transferring them, because most people are either unsure of this or frustrated with the hassle this process can bring.
How-Might-We Questions:
How might we help people understand what records are required to visit a specialist?
How might we create a more efficient, hassle-free process of obtaining and transferring records to a new specialist?
How might we ensure paper records are transferred over to specialists in time for the appointment?
A user persona was developed based on the demographics of interview participants (ages 20-30), highlighting common user goals, needs, and pain points. This persona represented the target audience for the product throughout the ideation and development process.
Patient usage of search engines to find a doctor increased 60% from 2017 to 2019.
Gen-Z and millennials tend to book appointments online, whereas baby boomers tend to book over the phone.
Approximately one-quarter of U.S. patients reported that the results and records from one provider did not reach another provider in time for their appointment.
Referral leakage for a health system can average anywhere from 55 to 65%.
The process of obtaining medical records from PCP to specialists.
86% of mistakes made in the healthcare industry are administrative.
Ideation
Idea: A portal where records can be sent to, uploaded to, or printed from.
Who is it for? Patients who are visiting a new provider/specialist and need to transfer records from their PCP/other provider.
What does it accomplish for them? Having a dedicated space where they can download past medical records and have providers add additional notes.
How does it accomplish this?
By being able to log into the health portal of their current provider, download records directly to the site and organize them, and transfer them to the specialist’s office.
Providers should be able to add their own notes through a private link that patients send to them – this link changes each time to ensure privacy, and each link has a time limit.
Notifications will allow patients to see if their provider’s have viewed or uploaded any additional info.
After developing a user persona, I began developing ideas for a product that would achieve the the goal of easily and efficiently transferring medical records from a PCP to another provider. I focused on ways to alleviate pain points such as; lacking knowledge of what documents are needed, reducing the back and forth phone calls to doctor’s offices, and having to print out documents.
User & Task Flows
After developing a product roadmap and potential features, I mapped out user flows and task flows to depict how the steps a user would take through a product.
Example User Flow
Task Flows:
User Flows:
Storyboarding
With a product idea in mind, I created a storyboard to visualize the the user’s journey using the product in a way that could help collect, organize, and send medical records to providers easily and efficiently.
Development
Mid-Fidelity Wireframes (Figma)
User flow: Creating/adding appointments, details, and reminders
User flow: Checking notifications, attaching documents to appointments
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
I started by sketching mobile and desktop layout ideas for the Dashboard, a page which provides an overview of upcoming appointments and any actions required, medical records, and notifications.
User Feedback
Recommendations
On the Dashboard and Attach Appointment pages, the content can be condensed slightly to make the CTAs visible before needing to scroll, as this hinders the user’s ability to complete the tasks efficiently. This is feasible through reducing font sizes of headers slightly and shifting boxes up.
Information buttons were desired by 3/5 users. This also helps the user understand each step in the process more easily.
Adding captions under the “+” is feasible through adding functional text. This was desired by 3/5 users. Not having this hinders the ability to complete tasks from dashboard (main screen).
Adding the ability to “go back” to make any changes when creating a process and having a summary page at the end, would solve the issue that 3/5 users mentioned during the appointment creation process.
I tested mid and high-fidelity prototypes with 5 users. To prioritize the feedback, I used the “frequency to severity” mapping technique and recommended changes to implement.
Brand Design
I developed a mood board which included brand values and visuals that were relevant to the user persona. The brand design is inspired by futuristic images that includes vibrant blue and green hues that complement each other well. Blue gives a sense of calmness and security. The green is energizing and reassuring. These are the effects we want to have on our users who want to stay organized, prepared, reduce stress when visiting their providers for health reasons.
Snippet of moodboard
Component Library
High-Fidelity Prototypes
Based on the recommendations prioritized from mapping the feedback, I made adjustments to screens and incorporated brand design to create high-fidelity wireframes.
On the Dashboard and Appointment pages, the content needed to be condensed slightly to make the CTAs visible before needing to scroll, as this hindered the user’s ability to complete the tasks efficiently. This was feasible through reducing font sizes of header text slightly and shifting boxes up, and removing the “View Records” CTA that was slightly hidden.
Adding functional text under the “+” icons was desired by 3/5 users. With these captions, users will have more ease understanding buttons and completing tasks from dashboard screen.
More instructional information was desired by 3/5 users, in the document checklist section. By adding information pop-ups, new users will be able to understand what to do in each step in the process.
“Back” buttons were added so that users could fix any mistakes or make changes in each step. 3/5 users mentioned the need for this during the appointment creation process. A confirmation page was added at the end, with a button to that appointment’s checklist to prompt users to check off any new records added.
Mid-fi Prototype
Mid-fi Prototype
Hi-fi Prototype
Mid-fi Prototype
Hi-fi Prototype
Hi-fi Prototype
Hi-fi Prototype
Hi-fi Prototype
User flow: Adding new appointments
User flow: Requesting documents from provider
User flow: Receiving documents via notification, attaching them to upcoming appointments.
Concluding Thoughts
HIPAA compliance and privacy
Since the product involves a transfer of confidential medical records between provider and patient through a third party app, it would require heavier security, such as Face ID or a two-step verification process. On the back end, the data security would have to be full proof.
Narrowing the scope
Given the time limitation of this project, I would have narrowed the How-Might-We questions to be less broad, so that I could focus on building out 1-2 user flows rather than 3 complex flows. I would have focused my time on user flows involving requesting documents from providers seamlessly, viewing notifications, and procedures to ensure document privacy.