Refreshing a Provider Web Portal and Designing a Patient App

Goals

  • Refresh the provider web portal to improve organization and user experience.

  • Design a patient-facing app to allow users to complete assessments on their personal devices.

  • Enable providers to access patient accounts through the app to track progress and assign assessments.

  • Increase assessment completion rates by addressing UX barriers and device access issues.

  • Enhance user engagement by creating a more personalized and motivating experience.

Research

Discovery Methods:

  • Existing platform analysis to understand current UX issues.

  • User interviews and panel sessions with patients to uncover pain points and opportunities.

  • Provider feedback sessions to align on access and tracking needs.

Key Insights:

  • Personalization gap: Users felt disconnected, perceiving assessments as cold, clinical, and impersonal.

  • Poor organization: Users struggled to navigate through dozens of non-chronological assessments, leading to confusion and abandonment.

  • UX dead ends: The lack of clear guidance caused users to become stuck or lost early in the process.

  • Guided journey desire: Users in stressful states preferred gentle guidance without feeling controlled.

  • Motivational opportunity: Dopamine boosts through achievements or motivational messaging could drive better engagement.

  • Language sensitivity: Tone and messaging needed to feel welcoming and empowering, not demanding or patronizing.

Business Objective:
Create a user-facing app that allows patients to complete assessments on personal devices, leading to higher completion rates and better care data.

Design

Key Decisions:

  • Assessment Layout Redesign: Chronological organization of assessments to provide a clear, guided path.

  • Journaling Feature: Introduced a standalone journaling feature to offer users a voluntary, meaningful mindfulness outlet without interrupting assessment flow.

  • Motivational Elements: Added positive reinforcement through motivational messaging and subtle achievement cues to provide dopamine-driven encouragement.

  • Language and Tone Adjustments: Crafted all communication with a focus on empowerment, clarity, and warmth.

Provider Access:

  • Designed secure access for providers within the app to monitor patient progress and manage assessments easily.

Challenges

  • Balancing Guidance and Freedom:
    Patients wanted direction without feeling micromanaged. We carefully calibrated the experience to feel supportive rather than restrictive.

  • Mindfulness Tradeoff:
    Initially considered a mindfulness feature embedded within the assessment flow, but user testing showed it disrupted focus. We pivoted to standalone journaling instead, preserving mindfulness benefits without interfering with task completion.

  • Patient Emotional States:
    Given users might be in heightened emotional states, all design choices had to prioritize simplicity, encouragement, and minimal cognitive load.

Outcomes

  • 65% increase in assessments completed on time.

  • 80% decrease in assessments that remained incomplete more than 3 days past due.

  • 30% of users voluntarily submitted a journal entry, indicating engagement beyond mandatory tasks.

  • Higher weekly logins: Dramatic increase in weekly user activity, demonstrating improved app stickiness and value perception.

What I Learned

One of my biggest lessons from this project was the power of deep psychological insight in UX design. Understanding the user's emotional context — not just their technical needs — led to design decisions that dramatically improved engagement and outcomes. This experience reinforced the importance of empathy-driven design as a core principle I now bring to every project, particularly when transitioning from research findings into impactful product design.