Ontada
Ontada
Ontada
Improving Patient Support for Health Administrators
Improving Patient Support for Health Administrators
Improving Patient Support for Health Administrators
Ontada Health set out to transform online healthcare assistance by redesigning their legacy patient support tools for administrators. The goal was to simplify patient searches, streamline resolution of account issues, and offer seamless access to patient health records—empowering administrators to deliver timely, effective support for cancer patients while enhancing overall care.
Ontada Health set out to transform online healthcare assistance by redesigning their legacy patient support tools for administrators. The goal was to simplify patient searches, streamline resolution of account issues, and offer seamless access to patient health records—empowering administrators to deliver timely, effective support for cancer patients while enhancing overall care.
Ontada Health set out to transform online healthcare assistance by redesigning their legacy patient support tools for administrators. The goal was to simplify patient searches, streamline resolution of account issues, and offer seamless access to patient health records—empowering administrators to deliver timely, effective support for cancer patients while enhancing overall care.
Agency: The Collective
Agency: The Collective
Year: 2023
Year: 2023
Responsibilities: Heuristic Evaluation, User Interviews, Prototyping, User Testing, Developer Handoff
Responsibilities: Heuristic Evaluation, User Interviews, Prototyping, User Testing, Developer Handoff
Team: Jaskaran Sondhi (UX/UI), Raden Tonev (UX/UI), Cori Couch (Design Manager), Jason Woods (Product Manager), Parveen Kumar (Engineering Manager)
Team: Jaskaran Sondhi (UX/UI), Raden Tonev (UX/UI), Cori Couch (Design Manager), Jason Woods (Product Manager), Parveen Kumar (Engineering Manager)
The Challenge
The Challenge
The Challenge
Users of My Care Plus, including both internal support team and external practice administrators, struggled with the platform's outdated interface and unorganized information architecture, resulting in complex and less effective workflows.
Users of My Care Plus, including both internal support team and external practice administrators, struggled with the platform's outdated interface and unorganized information architecture, resulting in complex and less effective workflows.
Users of My Care Plus, including both internal support team and external practice administrators, struggled with the platform's outdated interface and unorganized information architecture, resulting in complex and less effective workflows.
diving into the existing problems
diving into the existing problems
diving into the existing problems
Obstructed patient search prolonged support calls
Obstructed patient search prolonged support calls
Obstructed patient search prolonged support calls
Patients often did not remember their practice name
Patients often did not remember their practice name
Patients often did not remember their practice name
During patient support calls, admins had to select a practice as a first step. This mandatory step was a major blocker since patients often did not know their practice name but only the doctor's name they visited at the practice.
During patient support calls, admins had to select a practice as a first step. This mandatory step was a major blocker since patients often did not know their practice name but only the doctor's name they visited at the practice.
During patient support calls, admins had to select a practice as a first step. This mandatory step was a major blocker since patients often did not know their practice name but only the doctor's name they visited at the practice.
Support Manager for email search wasn't intuitive
Support Manager for email search wasn't intuitive
Support Manager for email search wasn't intuitive
Admins had an alternate method of searching for patients using their email address via the Support Manager. Since patients used usernames and not emails for logins, they mostly did not remember their email or provided the wrong one to the admins.
Admins had an alternate method of searching for patients using their email address via the Support Manager. Since patients used usernames and not emails for logins, they mostly did not remember their email or provided the wrong one to the admins.
Admins had an alternate method of searching for patients using their email address via the Support Manager. Since patients used usernames and not emails for logins, they mostly did not remember their email or provided the wrong one to the admins.
Confusing and insecure patient health record PDFs
Confusing and insecure patient health record PDFs
Confusing and insecure patient health record PDFs
Information inside the PDFs was unorganized and repetitive
Information inside the PDFs was unorganized and repetitive
Information inside the PDFs was unorganized and repetitive
The PDF of a patient's health record had information that did not replicate the way the same information was displayed in a patient's portal and was not organized well with repetitive data, causing confusion during support calls.
The PDF of a patient's health record had information that did not replicate the way the same information was displayed in a patient's portal and was not organized well with repetitive data, causing confusion during support calls.
The PDF of a patient's health record had information that did not replicate the way the same information was displayed in a patient's portal and was not organized well with repetitive data, causing confusion during support calls.
Downloadable PDFs of patient health records was risky
Downloadable PDFs of patient health records was risky
Downloadable PDFs of patient health records was risky
Ability to download PDFs to a local computer posed a risk to a patient's health information, and admins had to ensure the PDFs were deleted after each support call.
Ability to download PDFs to a local computer posed a risk to a patient's health information, and admins had to ensure the PDFs were deleted after each support call.
Ability to download PDFs to a local computer posed a risk to a patient's health information, and admins had to ensure the PDFs were deleted after each support call.
Patient details page was cluttered and lacked information
Patient details page was cluttered and lacked information
Patient details page was cluttered and lacked information
Excess patient information create a very cluttered interfact
Excess patient information create a very cluttered interfact
Excess patient information create a very cluttered interfact
Patient details page had a lot of information that wasn't useful to the admins and could be streamlined to reduce the clutter.
Patient details page had a lot of information that wasn't useful to the admins and could be streamlined to reduce the clutter.
Patient details page had a lot of information that wasn't useful to the admins and could be streamlined to reduce the clutter.
Lacking details about a patient's caregiver delayed verification
Lacking details about a patient's caregiver delayed verification
Lacking details about a patient's caregiver delayed verification
Caregivers assigned to a patient had no way to be verified during support calls due to missing information about them under the patient's detail page.
Caregivers assigned to a patient had no way to be verified during support calls due to missing information about them under the patient's detail page.
Caregivers assigned to a patient had no way to be verified during support calls due to missing information about them under the patient's detail page.
The Solution
The Solution
The Solution
The redesigned admin tools enhanced the user interface to make it more intuitive and efficient which included an improved patient search process and a more user-friendly health record interface, achieving high user satisfaction scores of 4/5 and 5/5 on the UMUX-Lite scale and estimated to a 30% reduction in the duration of support calls.
The redesigned admin tools enhanced the user interface to make it more intuitive and efficient which included an improved patient search process and a more user-friendly health record interface, achieving high user satisfaction scores of 4/5 and 5/5 on the UMUX-Lite scale and estimated to a 30% reduction in the duration of support calls.
The redesigned admin tools enhanced the user interface to make it more intuitive and efficient which included an improved patient search process and a more user-friendly health record interface, achieving high user satisfaction scores of 4/5 and 5/5 on the UMUX-Lite scale and estimated to a 30% reduction in the duration of support calls.
solution 1
solution 1
solution 1
Improved patient search experience
Improved patient search experience
Improved patient search experience
Updated the search to find patients across all practices
Updated the search to find patients across all practices
Updated the search to find patients across all practices
Super admins can now search for patients across all practices instead of a single practice at a time.
Super admins can now search for patients across all practices instead of a single practice at a time.
Super admins can now search for patients across all practices instead of a single practice at a time.
Added filters to narrow down search results by most useful categories
Added filters to narrow down search results by most useful categories
Added filters to narrow down search results by most useful categories
Providing admins a useful list of filters based on user research, helping narrow their search results.
Providing admins a useful list of filters based on user research, helping narrow their search results.
Providing admins a useful list of filters based on user research, helping narrow their search results.
solution 2
solution 2
solution 2
Detailed view of a patient's information
Detailed view of a patient's information
Detailed view of a patient's information
View and update patient information
View and update patient information
View and update patient information
Detailed patient information is accessible after an admin clicks on a search result. Admins can update patient information like username/email address or phone numbers from this page and view their care team or their last access to the patient portal.
Detailed patient information is accessible after an admin clicks on a search result. Admins can update patient information like username/email address or phone numbers from this page and view their care team or their last access to the patient portal.
Detailed patient information is accessible after an admin clicks on a search result. Admins can update patient information like username/email address or phone numbers from this page and view their care team or their last access to the patient portal.
Actions menu to solve patient account issues
Actions menu to solve patient account issues
Actions menu to solve patient account issues
A list of the most used actions for solving patient account issues is available here. Admins can access a patient's portal, reset passwords, deactivate accounts, unlock accounts or re-send invitations to the portal.
A list of the most used actions for solving patient account issues is available here. Admins can access a patient's portal, reset passwords, deactivate accounts, unlock accounts or re-send invitations to the portal.
A list of the most used actions for solving patient account issues is available here. Admins can access a patient's portal, reset passwords, deactivate accounts, unlock accounts or re-send invitations to the portal.
solution 3
solution 3
solution 3
Interactive patient portal to view health records
Interactive patient portal to view health records
Interactive patient portal to view health records
Help patients locate key information in their patient portals
Help patients locate key information in their patient portals
Help patients locate key information in their patient portals
A mirror copy of a patient's portal is accessible via the View Patient Portal action, through which admins can view the exact UI that a patient sees when accessing their portal, making it easier to help patients locate information.
A mirror copy of a patient's portal is accessible via the View Patient Portal action, through which admins can view the exact UI that a patient sees when accessing their portal, making it easier to help patients locate information.
A mirror copy of a patient's portal is accessible via the View Patient Portal action, through which admins can view the exact UI that a patient sees when accessing their portal, making it easier to help patients locate information.
Added an alternative way to help administrators view a patient's caregivers
Added an alternative way to help administrators view a patient's caregivers
Added an alternative way to help administrators view a patient's caregivers
Although we scoped out caregiver information from the patient details page for the MVP, admins can view who a patient has added as a caregiver from menu in the patient's portal, serving as a temporary solution for admins during support calls.
Although we scoped out caregiver information from the patient details page for the MVP, admins can view who a patient has added as a caregiver from menu in the patient's portal, serving as a temporary solution for admins during support calls.
Although we scoped out caregiver information from the patient details page for the MVP, admins can view who a patient has added as a caregiver from menu in the patient's portal, serving as a temporary solution for admins during support calls.
Diving into the process
Diving into the process
Diving into the process
We followed a well planned process to identify key user problems through user interviews, using insights to ideate solutions and test them with users using findings to reiterate and come up with a final solution that solves key user problems.
We followed a well planned process to identify key user problems through user interviews, using insights to ideate solutions and test them with users using findings to reiterate and come up with a final solution that solves key user problems.
We followed a well planned process to identify key user problems through user interviews, using insights to ideate solutions and test them with users using findings to reiterate and come up with a final solution that solves key user problems.
User Research
User Research
User Research
Understanding our user's problems
Understanding our user's problems
Understanding our user's problems
We interviewed two internal support and one external practice users of My Care Plus to understand their needs, goals and challenges
We interviewed two internal support and one external practice users of My Care Plus to understand their needs, goals and challenges
We interviewed two internal support and one external practice users of My Care Plus to understand their needs, goals and challenges
Internal support user
Internal support user
"Sometimes patients only know their doctor's name and not the name of the facility the doctor's practicing at."
"Sometimes patients only know their doctor's name and not the name of the facility the doctor's practicing at."
"Sometimes patients only know their doctor's name and not the name of the facility the doctor's practicing at."
Internal support user
Internal support user
"Probably be helpful to have the support manager tool within the activity manager section."
"Probably be helpful to have the support manager tool within the activity manager section."
"Probably be helpful to have the support manager tool within the activity manager section."
External practice user
External practice user
"Interactive view of the patient health record will be more useful than downloading a PDF."
"Interactive view of the patient health record will be more useful than downloading a PDF."
"Interactive view of the patient health record will be more useful than downloading a PDF."
External practice user
External practice user
"Finding patients in My Care Plus is frustrating without the ability to use their email address to search."
"Finding patients in My Care Plus is frustrating without the ability to use their email address to search."
"Finding patients in My Care Plus is frustrating without the ability to use their email address to search."
Key insights gathered from User Interviews:
Key insights gathered from User Interviews:
Key insights gathered from User Interviews:
Searching for patients a big challenge
Searching for patients a big challenge
Searching for patients a big challenge
Patients usually did not know the healthcare practice name but only the doctor's name they visit within the practice. This made finding patient profiles difficult because they were unable to use the search feature without first selecting a practice.
Patients usually did not know the healthcare practice name but only the doctor's name they visit within the practice. This made finding patient profiles difficult because they were unable to use the search feature without first selecting a practice.
Patients usually did not know the healthcare practice name but only the doctor's name they visit within the practice. This made finding patient profiles difficult because they were unable to use the search feature without first selecting a practice.
Disconnected patient search feature
Disconnected patient search feature
Disconnected patient search feature
Patient search feature was divided into two separate tabs which made switching between them cumbersome and time taking. Participants expressed the desire to have these two features combined under a single tab for ease of use.
Patient search feature was divided into two separate tabs which made switching between them cumbersome and time taking. Participants expressed the desire to have these two features combined under a single tab for ease of use.
Patient search feature was divided into two separate tabs which made switching between them cumbersome and time taking. Participants expressed the desire to have these two features combined under a single tab for ease of use.
Confusing patient health records layout
Confusing patient health records layout
Confusing patient health records layout
Accessing patient records as downloadable PDFs was restrictive, less user-friendly and not secure for patient data. The PDF files were poorly laid out with no structure or format, and made it difficult to locate information quickly and easily.
Accessing patient records as downloadable PDFs was restrictive, less user-friendly and not secure for patient data. The PDF files were poorly laid out with no structure or format, and made it difficult to locate information quickly and easily.
Accessing patient records as downloadable PDFs was restrictive, less user-friendly and not secure for patient data. The PDF files were poorly laid out with no structure or format, and made it difficult to locate information quickly and easily.
No visibility of a patient's caregiver
No visibility of a patient's caregiver
No visibility of a patient's caregiver
Caregiver information was not present anywhere in My Care Plus, so admins had no way to verify the identity of caregivers when they called for support, requiring patients to first confirm the identity of a caregiver during an ongoing call.
Caregiver information was not present anywhere in My Care Plus, so admins had no way to verify the identity of caregivers when they called for support, requiring patients to first confirm the identity of a caregiver during an ongoing call.
Caregiver information was not present anywhere in My Care Plus, so admins had no way to verify the identity of caregivers when they called for support, requiring patients to first confirm the identity of a caregiver during an ongoing call.
Heuristic Evaluation
Heuristic Evaluation
Heuristic Evaluation
Analyzing My Care Plus's existing experience
Analyzing My Care Plus's existing experience
Analyzing My Care Plus's existing experience
Using the responses gathered from the user interviews, I took a more in-depth look at the platform itself, and conducted a heuristic evaluation with the goal of understanding the features of My Care Plus and identify key usability issues with the existing admin tools.
Using the responses gathered from the user interviews, I took a more in-depth look at the platform itself, and conducted a heuristic evaluation with the goal of understanding the features of My Care Plus and identify key usability issues with the existing admin tools.
Using the responses gathered from the user interviews, I took a more in-depth look at the platform itself, and conducted a heuristic evaluation with the goal of understanding the features of My Care Plus and identify key usability issues with the existing admin tools.
Documenting usability issues and scoring them based on severity for each page of My Care Plus
Documenting usability issues and scoring them based on severity for each page of My Care Plus
Key insights gathered from Heuristic Evaluation:
Key insights gathered from Heuristic Evaluation:
Key insights gathered from Heuristic Evaluation:
Insight 1
Insight 1
Insight 1
Complicated user flows for basic tasks
Complicated user flows for basic tasks
Complicated user flows for basic tasks
Searching for a patient required multiple steps, and there were other CTA and links scattered around.
Searching for a patient required multiple steps, and there were other CTA and links scattered around.
Searching for a patient required multiple steps, and there were other CTA and links scattered around.
insight 2
insight 2
insight 2
No indication of current system status
No indication of current system status
No indication of current system status
There was no response when clicking buttons or navigating to other pages that were slow to load completely.
There was no response when clicking buttons or navigating to other pages that were slow to load completely.
There was no response when clicking buttons or navigating to other pages that were slow to load completely.
insight 3
insight 3
insight 3
Inconsistency in the design language
Inconsistency in the design language
Inconsistency in the design language
Lots of buttons had varying designs in color and size, and the terminology in CTAs was also inconsistent.
Lots of buttons had varying designs in color and size, and the terminology in CTAs was also inconsistent.
Lots of buttons had varying designs in color and size, and the terminology in CTAs was also inconsistent.
Problem Statement
Problem Statement
Problem Statement
Oncology support administrators struggle to efficiently locate and access essential patient information in My Care Plus, such as patient profiles and health records. This difficulty not only prolongs support calls, leading to administrator and patient frustration, but also negatively impacts the overall quality of patient care and support.
Oncology support administrators struggle to efficiently locate and access essential patient information in My Care Plus, such as patient profiles and health records. This difficulty not only prolongs support calls, leading to administrator and patient frustration, but also negatively impacts the overall quality of patient care and support.
Oncology support administrators struggle to efficiently locate and access essential patient information in My Care Plus, such as patient profiles and health records. This difficulty not only prolongs support calls, leading to administrator and patient frustration, but also negatively impacts the overall quality of patient care and support.
User Personas
User Personas
User Personas
Understanding our users
Understanding our users
Understanding our users
Now it was time to think about who were were designing for. Through user interviews, we identified two types of administrators that use admin tools in My Care Plus - Super admins and Practice admins.
Now it was time to think about who were were designing for. Through user interviews, we identified two types of administrators that use admin tools in My Care Plus - Super admins and Practice admins.
Now it was time to think about who were were designing for. Through user interviews, we identified two types of administrators that use admin tools in My Care Plus - Super admins and Practice admins.
Super Admin
Super Admin
Super Admin
Meet Jasmine, working at McKesson as a patient portal support specialist for My Care Plus users such as patients, caregivers and practices.
Meet Jasmine, working at McKesson as a patient portal support specialist for My Care Plus users such as patients, caregivers and practices.
Meet Jasmine, working at McKesson as a patient portal support specialist for My Care Plus users such as patients, caregivers and practices.
Practice Admin
Practice Admin
Practice Admin
Meet Aaron, working at Odessa Oncology as a patient coordinator who provides administrative support to patients within his practice.
Meet Aaron, working at Odessa Oncology as a patient coordinator who provides administrative support to patients within his practice.
Meet Aaron, working at Odessa Oncology as a patient coordinator who provides administrative support to patients within his practice.
wireframes
wireframes
wireframes
Experimenting with various solutions
Experimenting with various solutions
Experimenting with various solutions
Raden and I collaborated together during the ideation phase and sketched out various ideas on paper using the user stories as a guide. We focused on the most important functions of the admin tools first, which are searching for a patient and viewing their health record.
Raden and I collaborated together during the ideation phase and sketched out various ideas on paper using the user stories as a guide. We focused on the most important functions of the admin tools first, which are searching for a patient and viewing their health record.
Raden and I collaborated together during the ideation phase and sketched out various ideas on paper using the user stories as a guide. We focused on the most important functions of the admin tools first, which are searching for a patient and viewing their health record.
Version 01
Version 01
Version 01
Practice selector modal
Practice selector modal
Practice selector modal
When admins log into the patient support tools, they will be presented with a modal which gives them options of choosing a practice from a list of registered practices and the status of their activity.
When admins log into the patient support tools, they will be presented with a modal which gives them options of choosing a practice from a list of registered practices and the status of their activity.
When admins log into the patient support tools, they will be presented with a modal which gives them options of choosing a practice from a list of registered practices and the status of their activity.
Version 02
Version 02
Version 02
Empty state experience
Empty state experience
Empty state experience
Admins will see an empty state when logging into the patient support tools. A tooltip will indicate that they need to select a practice first. Once a practice is selected, they can view a list of patients registered under that practice.
Admins will see an empty state when logging into the patient support tools. A tooltip will indicate that they need to select a practice first. Once a practice is selected, they can view a list of patients registered under that practice.
Admins will see an empty state when logging into the patient support tools. A tooltip will indicate that they need to select a practice first. Once a practice is selected, they can view a list of patients registered under that practice.
Version 03
Version 03
Version 03
Practice list selector
Practice list selector
Practice list selector
The third idea was to present an entire list of practices to the admins, along with the EMR source and status. This made it easier to see practices without having to search first. This experience was the most similar to the existing experience, which I personally preferred to keep things fairly consistent.
The third idea was to present an entire list of practices to the admins, along with the EMR source and status. This made it easier to see practices without having to search first. This experience was the most similar to the existing experience, which I personally preferred to keep things fairly consistent.
The third idea was to present an entire list of practices to the admins, along with the EMR source and status. This made it easier to see practices without having to search first. This experience was the most similar to the existing experience, which I personally preferred to keep things fairly consistent.
usertesting
usertesting
usertesting
Testing the new experience with users
Testing the new experience with users
Testing the new experience with users
After gathering feedback from the Ontada team, we updated the wireframes to improve the overall experience and created a prototype to test with our users
After gathering feedback from the Ontada team, we updated the wireframes to improve the overall experience and created a prototype to test with our users
After gathering feedback from the Ontada team, we updated the wireframes to improve the overall experience and created a prototype to test with our users
We conducted remote user tests with 3 users and validated the designs using the UMUX-Lite scale:
We conducted remote user tests with 3 users and validated the designs using the UMUX-Lite scale:
We conducted remote user tests with 3 users and validated the designs using the UMUX-Lite scale:
4 out of 5
4 out of 5
4 out of 5
System meet my requirements.
System meet my requirements.
System meet my requirements.
5 out of 5
5 out of 5
5 out of 5
This system is easy to use.
This system is easy to use.
This system is easy to use.
30%
30%
30%
Estimated reduction in call duration.
Estimated reduction in call duration.
Estimated reduction in call duration.
Here is what our users had to say about the new experience:
Here is what our users had to say about the new experience:
Here is what our users had to say about the new experience:
Revamped Patient Search
Revamped Patient Search
Revamped Patient Search
"Ability to search for patients across all practices is helpful because a lot of times patients call in and they may not remember the full name of the practice that they visit."
"Ability to search for patients across all practices is helpful because a lot of times patients call in and they may not remember the full name of the practice that they visit."
"Ability to search for patients across all practices is helpful because a lot of times patients call in and they may not remember the full name of the practice that they visit."
Interactive Patient Health Record
Interactive Patient Health Record
Interactive Patient Health Record
"To present PHR in this way, I think that's going to be really helpful when trying to help the patient if they need help navigating through the portal or showing them where something is."
"To present PHR in this way, I think that's going to be really helpful when trying to help the patient if they need help navigating through the portal or showing them where something is."
"To present PHR in this way, I think that's going to be really helpful when trying to help the patient if they need help navigating through the portal or showing them where something is."
Search Filters
Search Filters
Search Filters
"That's a good list of filters, and if we can keep all of this information, I think that would be very helpful."
"That's a good list of filters, and if we can keep all of this information, I think that would be very helpful."
"That's a good list of filters, and if we can keep all of this information, I think that would be very helpful."
Search Results Table
Search Results Table
Search Results Table
"The table and the information included in the columns displayed in the table, that all looks good."
"The table and the information included in the columns displayed in the table, that all looks good."
"The table and the information included in the columns displayed in the table, that all looks good."
The Final Prototype
The Final Prototype
The Final Prototype
retrospective
retrospective
retrospective
Final thoughts and take aways
Final thoughts and take aways
Final thoughts and take aways
take away 1
take away 1
take away 1
Teamwork and Cross-collaboration
Teamwork and Cross-collaboration
Teamwork and Cross-collaboration
This project highlighted the importance of collaboration across different functions. By engaging in continuous discussions and reviews early on, we were able to achieve a design that met both user needs and business requirements.
This project highlighted the importance of collaboration across different functions. By engaging in continuous discussions and reviews early on, we were able to achieve a design that met both user needs and business requirements.
This project highlighted the importance of collaboration across different functions. By engaging in continuous discussions and reviews early on, we were able to achieve a design that met both user needs and business requirements.
take away 2
take away 2
take away 2
Improving user tests
Improving user tests
Improving user tests
We faced challenges in recruiting a wider range of healthcare admins due to the demanding nature of their jobs. For richer and more diverse insights, I would have liked to recruit more users from various practices.
We faced challenges in recruiting a wider range of healthcare admins due to the demanding nature of their jobs. For richer and more diverse insights, I would have liked to recruit more users from various practices.
We faced challenges in recruiting a wider range of healthcare admins due to the demanding nature of their jobs. For richer and more diverse insights, I would have liked to recruit more users from various practices.
take away
take away
take away
Considering caregivers
Considering caregivers
Considering caregivers
Bringing back caregivers under patient details would significantly enhance the user experience since users expressed the importance of this information when identifying patients or verifying patient caregivers during support calls.
Bringing back caregivers under patient details would significantly enhance the user experience since users expressed the importance of this information when identifying patients or verifying patient caregivers during support calls.
Bringing back caregivers under patient details would significantly enhance the user experience since users expressed the importance of this information when identifying patients or verifying patient caregivers during support calls.