What is it about?
Care Management is a service provided to patients by American Insurance agencies to help patients to cope with terminal illnesses. The client in this case was a leading global insurance agency whose ask was for us to conduct research on the current scenario of care management and use the insights to conceptualize a new platform to help the organization, manage their patients.
One of the main goals was to create a conducive digital environment that would help remotely support the organization's patients owing to the lockdowns caused by COVID-19.
Research
Secondary research was used to get a better understanding of the current care management ecosystem.
Research: Step 1
Identifing User Groups
During our secondary research phase, we came across various users who were part of the care management platform. These users were categorized into two groups, namely the care management team and the recipients of care.
Care Management Team
As per the secondary research, the care teams mainly include Care Managers, Primary care physicians and Pharmacists.
Recipients of Care
As per the secondary research, the recipients of care include members (Patients) and Caregivers.
Research: Step 2
Care Management – A First Look
Through secondary research, a high-level initial journey of care management along with the pain points faced by both care managers and members at each stage of the journey was plotted.
1: Member files a Claim
2: Member is assigned a Care Manager
3: Care Manager contacts the Member
4: Member is assessed by the Care Manager
5: Care Manager develops a Care Plan
6: Care Plan is socialized by the Member
7: Care Manager periodically check-ins with the Member
8: Member graduates from the Care Management program
Research: Step 3
Questioning the Unknown
Using the findings from secondary research as a reference, all aspects of care management were questioned to gain a better understanding of the problem.
These questions were used as a backbone to developed a detailed interview guide to target specific answers from care management associates.
Research: Step 4
Gathering Data
Using the formulated questions, user interviews were conducted with key Care Management associates to gain an in-depth understanding of the care management journey.
Ethnographic interviews were conducted across 14 individuals across 5 persona archetypes who are involved in the care management journey to form an in-depth understanding of current state.
14 Care Management
Associates
7 Care Managers
3 Health Care Representatives
2 Product / Project Managers
1 Pharmacy Consultantt
1 Specialist
What was found
After crunching the data gathered from the research phase through primary and secondary research, the user arch type and opportunity areas were derived.
What was found: Output 1
Persona Archetypes
From the interviews, similar users were grouped together to create Persona Archetypes which helped define the goals and the insights received from a particular set of associates.
5 current persona archetypes of key associates in the care management process were identified. The persona archetypes are categorized as primary, secondary, and tertiary depending on the volume of these personas spending time to serve members as a part of care management programs.
Design - Intitial Pass
As the project was a concept presentation for the client, a compelling narrative was formed to showcase how the various opportunity spaces would manifest through a new-age digital ecosystem.
The narrative aimed at touching base with 2 of the major persona archetypes, namely the Health care representatives and the care managers and how they would interact with the member through existing means.
A couple of iterations were created before moving on to user testing for validation.
User Testing
The initial designs were presented to a panel of associates for user testing. The Panel consisted of the same associates who were interviewed. A lot of feedback was collected from the associates to improve the direction of the design.
Some of the feedback points received were as follows
“I’ve consistently argued against appointment scheduling. I know my members, I have developed relationships with them, and I know what times of the day they’d like to be called so I try to meet their desires. But I don’t ever set an appointment time. Who knows my boss may pull us into an emergency meeting that lasts up to 30 mins to an hour and then interrupts whatever I had planned for. I do like the idea of the schedule and being able to give people a timeframe, but I don’t set anything in stone.”
“It’d be nice to you know highlight pieces that I then sent to them, in their app or email, because then it gives them a bullet point review of the highlights of our phone call where I identified how I'm going to help them and what their homework is. You know, the highlights of what we each need to do before the next call, in fact, that would be helpful for every call.”
“I’d like a one-stop-shop on documentation, I want to be able to put all of my information in one spot for that particular call. I don't want to have to go to two or three tiles or tabs and document everything I need to. You know that quick glance of what I’m doing would be helpful, on the task names on the meeting names and the ability for me to edit that to make notes to know what I’m doing with that call. A place to add notes that would help me jot down points post every call and something I can refer to before the next call to jog my memory.”
Design - Final Pass
Using the Feedback from the User Testing sessions, the designs were modified to their final renditions.
The Dashboard
Associates can view their schedules. This will help them plan their workflow more effectively. Associates also have the ability to add and block timeslots for various activities, as required.
Members
Associates can look at members assigned to them, prioritized by when they are scheduled to meet, or search for specific members. They can also access a view of their assigned members on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
Recent Communications
The Recent Communications section gives the care manager a view into the members who have tried to contact them.
Member Details
The member details page for the care manager is very similar to the member details page presented to other associates using the care management ecosystem. The clinical cards can arrange themselves based on the information. This will help the associate to quickly review a case.
New tasks are automatically added to the task section as the care journey progresses.
The Documentation Panel
The Panel on the left of the Member Details page is a sticky panel that houses a multitude of information that can be used by the Associates to get a quick understanding of the case at any given point and lets the associates interact with their members and other care team personnel with ease.
Tracking Health Goals
The ecosystem tracks the progress of all of the health goals. Certain health metrics can be tracked through wearables, via the application.
As the care manager and the member go through the various health goals, they change with various visual cues which helps the care manager to distinguish between each state of the health goal quickly.
As the various health goals are completed through periodic follow-ups, they get updated on the member details page to give the care manager real time updates of the health goals.
Due to Covid-19, Collaborative ideation sessions over freehand and FigJam were conducted with the stakeholders.
My Role
Innovation Lead, Product Design Lead, Solo Designer; 2021
What I was responsible for;
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Client-facing discussions
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Understanding the Problem and Research
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Design Strategy and Conceptualization
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Creating the Narrative
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Creating the UX and the Visuals
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Design system management
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Gathering user feedback
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Presenting the Concept to the Clients and Partners
Meow-nu.
