Cost transparency for variable cost healthcare
Information is power – people feel more secure moving forward with healthcare procedures the more they understand. With this work, we strived to create an experience for members to understand variable costs and move forward in confidence.
Problem How to wrangle a large-scale system serving millions of members with varying roles and plan types on top of distilling a complicated financial picture? How to advocate for a human-centered design practice in a layer, constrained org?
Solution The solution attacks the problem from a few perspectives aiming to tactfully share the entire cost journey as well as the current state member costs.
Impact
9.99%👇
Decrease digital support interactions & complaints per 1K sign-ons.
0.017%👇
Decrease digital complaints, grievances & appeals per 1K member signons
Frontline Immersion
I listened to the actual voice of the member to build perspective and empathy. Grievances are exported and auto-sorted on boards, transformed to problem statements and opportunities.
Data Analysis
The Product Manager and I hold workshops to leverage business stakeholders’ knowledge of complex business rules. Then these rules need to be validated in the data to understand the true scope. The image to the right is an over simplication but this ends as a gnarly, living excel doc.
Plan Type
Survey
Longitudinal surveys were designed and evolved to uncover problem-solving styles, pain points, and comprehension of terms and concepts.
We are designing for members who call for assistance and that have some cost constraints.
Problem Solving Styles
Cost Mentalities
Research Activity: Explorations. 🔦
Content, copy and user-interface iterations are ongoing throughout all phases of the project such as discovery and ideation.
Testing
Iterative concept testing, moderated usability testing, and card sorting helped with things like content flows, language and placement and order of categories, respectively.
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s o l u t i o n
Single Entry
Collapsing two confusing entry points into 1 all-encompassing experience provides one path to a snapshot of member costs per plan phase with point in time estimation.
Guided
Before we expect members to understand complex cost structures, some need foundational terms and definitions. While implementing this inline comes with challenges, it a fair trade-off knowing the alternative is not following through.
Extensible
Designs were created across various plan types and product structures.
Procedure Level
Members can search by procedure or service and see a breakdown of services with cost in terms of money and time.
Cross-Functional
We added cost estimate input into the appointments flow as well as notifications when members check-in at the facility.