PLEDGE HEALTH

In the past few years, there has been a constant increase in deductible rates in insurance plans. Many across the country have been affected by this and in turn, are paying more out of pocket. The Pledge Health company allows independent practices and insurance companies to easily verify patient insurance eligibility and benefits, generate out-of-pocket cost estimates and collect patient responsibility, increasing the likelihood of patients paying on time or even earlier.

Evaluation

My teammates conducted an evaluation of Pledge Health to find assets and pain points. The evaluation helped us visually break down the usability and UI features to determine how to improve the functionality of the website. Given the desired deliverable for the client, we conducted a full evaluation of the existing screens. Particular attention was paid to the components and navigation. Since there was an established need for improved ease of use and automation, our team used this perspective to make recommendations. We discovered a gap in the execution of client communication and overall decided that restructuring the components would lead to a smoother user experience. This is what ultimately led to the use of card components to group functions and integrated email invoicing.

HMW's

The final piece of the research was to synthesize this data, with How Might We (HMW) statements to communicate the most important problems users want to be solved. 

• Allow the user to view previous appointments?

• Allow the user to view their bill?

• Allow the user to pay their bill in different ways?

• Allow users to see previous bills?

• Allow users to see all statements, including insurance breakdown?

• Allow users to auto-pay for appointments?

• Allow users to view plan details?

• Allow users to see services available for each clinic?

• Allow users to communicate with clinics for the upcoming and past appointments?

• Allow users to see individual/family full benefits (e.g.deductibles, copays, out-of-pocket)?

• Allow users to see the entire process from pre-visit to post-visit and billing?

As a team, we came together to make the design decisions for the high-fidelity wireframes to make sure the screens are all cohesive. We first began building up the website based on the color explorations and style guide on two screens. Once we agreed on the design we split the screens into sections Dashboard, Patients, Billing, Providers, Fee schedule, and Settings. We each worked on a section of the layout based on the template of the first two screens. After the completion of the basics of the screens, we came together as a group to make design changes as needed on each screen. Our main focus was to provide information in a way that transitioned smoothly from one choice to the next to create an easy user experience.

Low & High - Fidelity Wireframes

Mobile (Patients)

Working with The Pledge Health company to create an end-to-end product that will help so many practices and patients navigate through the challenges of medical billing easily, was a great experience. Throughout this journey, I learned so much about the ends and outs of medical billing as well as the perspective of the providers versus the perspective of the patients. I had the opportunity to work with a very knowledgeable team, some with backgrounds in insurance which was a major asset to the team. Throughout this process, we learned how to communicate as a team, learn from one another and come together to portray one cohesive vision. We learned how to take our mishaps and as well as our accomplishments with stride and in the end, everything came together for the good.

I learned so much from this project, but the most important thing was understanding that all design processes go through different phases at different times. At the end of the day, it is a matter of adapting to changes during distinctive situations.