To the patient looking for a doctor🔍,

As someone who wants a holistic approach to your chronic pain, you told me you needed a doctor who would treat you as a whole person.

Finding a doctor takes time, and when you finally get an appointment, all you can hope for is a respectful and informative time; but, even this has not been your experience. You’re tired, and all you want is to find a doctor you could trust and stick with.

After our conversation, I sought out to find how we might aid people in finding doctors for their specific situations and preferences. Since you require a holistic approach, how can we find you a doctor that values this method?

I used the card sorting research method with participants who visited providers this year and searched for providers online to list relevant and necessary features and information for a provider search. With this, we built a provider search application where you can choose your provider preferences using filters.

I’m really excited for you to try my provider search application, Pursuit of Health – let me know how it works for you!

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
‍
Only the best,

Pursuit of Health
Background

60% of consumers search online to find provider care; Of these, nearly 80% are looking at 2 or more online sources to make their care decisions.

Yet, currently, there is no search platform that shares reliable provider information alongside patient reviews; users must submit to a process of searching for candidates to later confirm if they are even in-network. This project seeks to uncover ways to improve search for doctors.
The Challenge
A student project to discover user needs and design a solution.

I chose to solve an area of need in the healthcare space, and to platform that supplies accurate and preferred information for users to confidently find and choose their providers.
The Scope
Pursuit of Health, end-to-end application
May — July 2023
80 hours
My Role
Research
UI / UX
Branding

The Solution

Users find given preferences relevant and are confident that PoH will provide a suitable doctor for their needs

Users are searching for doctors they can connect with and calling for a healthcare experience more suited to their lifestyle and values. They often find themselves looking when they are feeling most vulnerable and PoH is providing users with support in these times. Users can plan their provider search ahead of time by integrating filter options of tested patient preferences, and search when in need with a click of a button.
What really worked
Filter preferences

Users felt in control of their options, and that they could confidently make a choice from their search results.

Users enjoyed the the feature to add multiple locations, and felt that the extensive provider preferences helped narrow down their options.
Priority Update
‘Save recent search’ feature was added to the filters page
Research Insight
Users were quick to navigate to filters page for filter related tasks despite available functions on the current page.
Priority Update
Source of Truth

To be a source of the most up-to-date information, our users will receive a notification about their doctor’s upcoming network status change.
Research Insight
A user asked if they’ll receive a notification about their provider leaving their network.
My usability test suggests that users find the following preferences relevant and are confident that Pursuit of Health will provide a suitable doctor for their needs.

Next, we can test how an onboarding quiz can assist with filter setups

In a future iteration, I would see how an onboarding quiz for users could further assist with filter setups.

Thank you to all who have made this work possible

This project helped me understand how we can, through design thinking, make personalized and lasting connections.

Primary Research

Competitor analysis‍

Key takeaways and questions

1.
Search and review platforms like Zocdoc, where the provider contributes information, the quality of provider search and match suffers greatly due to inaccurate and outdated information.
What information do users find to be important when searching for doctors?
2.
Data management solutions for private providers capitalize on accurate information. Though a powerful tool, this model is utilized only at a small scale due to America’s network-based healthcare system. This model is at odds with patients who can use the information to find providers they need.
How can we use this infrastructure to help patients as well?

User Interviews with 7 participants who searched for and visited a doctor in the last year, to answer:

How do users search for healthcare providers?
What do patients expect / want from their providers?

“

You’ve waited for a really long time, and when you actually get to speak to a person, you feel as though you've done what you can within your sphere of influence: Googled, asked people, tried to do your own research.

You’re hoping they will respect you as a person, listen to you, hopefully have an answer for you… it just hasn’t been my experience with healthcare teams.”
User comment on healthcare experiences

Research synthesis with an affinity map of user comments organized by:

The Process → What works → What doesn’t work → What it can be

Themes uncovered from affinity map

Theme 1

Trust

To find a doctor who they could trust and communicate wholly
Theme 2

Choice

The option to choose by insurance, proximity, and through positive and relevant reviews.
Theme 3

Time

To save time in all aspects of the process, from searching, booking, and waiting at the providers office.
Theme 4

Ease of...

a. Searching
b. Booking
c. Checking in
d. Sharing own patient data with other providers

Overall learnings from research

In organizing the data by the process in which users find and choose their providers, I found that Insurance is the limiting factor that drives cost and provider options. Within this platform, addressing themes discovered above, I look to improve the search system by integrating map area, cost, and in-network filters, which would provide better options and save user’s time and energy out of the office.

In the office, although much of what happens there is out of a user’s circle of control, user’s can expect a level of professionalism, experience, and background based on reviews and provider bios.

User personas by distinguished needs as patient

Persona 1

Initial in-person visit

Goals
Get non-invasive treatment for chronic pain
Needs
  • A doctor with clear communication about treatments and procedures
  • To meet doctors in-person, to see how the office is run
Pain Points
Multiple rounds of research by reviews, insurance, and calling to see if they accept new patients
Persona 2

Holistic approach

Goals
To treat the source of the problem
Needs
  • A doctor who can speak from personal experience, take a holistic approach
  • To build trust and confidence in a longer-term provider
    Pain Points
    Reviews seem inflated, not the right criteria
    Persona 3

    Reliable access

    Goals
    To manage a chronic condition
    Needs
    • Regular and quick access to a doctor
    • Latest technological offerings
    • Pharmacy that will keep up with prescriptions
    Pain Points
    Providers pass judgment, lack empathy, are not experienced in their condition, have limited availabilities

    Key research questions answered

    How do users search for healthcare providers?
    The process of finding and searching for providers is where users feel they can take ownership and control of the care they receive. This circle of control can be compromised by limitations with insurance coverage, contributing to overall dissatisfaction with the healthcare system.

    But when given the opportunity, users are looking for providers who can understand their unique situation and can provide for them the comprehensive and thoughtful care they seek.
    What do patients expect / want from their providers?
    Users want to build long-term relationships with their providers. This gold standard bond between patient and provider is characterized by more personal conversations, holistic care, patient satisfaction, and ultimately retention.
    Project Commitment
    For this project, I would like to explore areas that would decrease the time and effort one takes finding and booking a provider, and increase provider retention which contributes to further time saved from revisiting the search process.

    Ideation & Definition

    Project Direction
    Now that we’ve uncovered that users are seeking for a provider than can build stronger patient-doctor relationships with, we can frame our exploration:
    How might we aid users in finding the doctor for their specific situation?

    Priority Roadmap

    Connecting business problems with relevant user goals, to align our project goals

    1. Facilitate users finding a reliable provider
    2. Promote better health by matching patients with the doctors they need

    Feature roadmap of features that would aid users in finding and choosing a doctor

    Each feature is organized and tagged from high priority to inessential based on its role in helping our users achieve their goal of confidently choosing a doctor. Prioritization nomenclature is as follows:
    1. Must-have
    2. Nice to have
    3. Surprising and delightful
    4. Can come later

    Project goals and priorities

    1.
    What this project is not:
    ‍    Shown here, the provider profile is created by the provider, a model that allows for inaccurate information. As inaccurate provider directories are still a huge problem in the healthcare industry, and not an issue this project is committed to solving, we will assume an ideal scenario where provider information is accurate.
    2.
    What this project is:
    ‍    A robust search feature based on provider details that users care about to make more suitable doctor-patient connections.
    3.
    What sets this project apart:
    ‍    Patients can set filter profiles based on different types of doctor visits they may frequent. As users are constantly looking for new doctors, for instance a chronic issue they have, they are aware of their specific needs for such a visit. Users can create a set for a place close to home, with their insurance, language, gender, specialty, and more, which they can then use for future searches with a click of a button.

    Information Architecture

    Sitemap shows how the art directory will be organized

    As the function of this application is to serve as a directory of art in public spaces, the All Trails application is a directory of trails in public spaces. With this commonality in mind, the organization of exploration and bookmarking features were used as inspiration to build out this sitemap.

    Key

    User flow shows opportunities in profiles and presets for a search users would make often

    Task flow shows opportunities preferences for users looking to make future searches easier

    Interaction & UI Design

    Initial Sketches

    Patterns from competitors were studied

    Lo-fi Wireframes

    Purpose
    Support users in find the doctor they need
    Function
    Ways to search and browse doctors
    Structure & Flow
    1. Saved care filters
    2. Search field
    3. Specialties
    4. Location
    Purpose
    Make it easy for users to make repeat searches
    Function
    Create and save personal preferences for future searches
    Structure & Flow
    1. Run search using filter
    2. Edit filter
    3. Create new filter
    Purpose
    Support users in find the doctor they need
    Function
    Ways to search and browse doctors
    Structure & Flow
    1. Saved care filters
    2. Search field
    3. Specialties
    4. Location

    Hi-fi Mockups

    Design pattern 1
    Categorization
    Purpose and function
    Group providers by different categories for browsing
    Design pattern 2
    Status bar
    Purpose and function
    Location and Insurance
    Design pattern
    Cards
    Purpose and function
    Browse top specialties and filters for
    Design pattern
    Floating action button
    Purpose and function
    Search by map area

    Testing & Iterations

    Usability tests with 6 participants who had searched for a doctor in the last year

    Goal of test
    To assess how our hero feature, the filter functions would help our users find a suitable doctor
    Participant details
    3 moderated tests with users who were interested in a better way to find healthcare providers
    3 unmoderated tests
    Test details
    Participants were asked to work through tasks related to the filter feature: to add filters, to save new filters, and search using a saved filter

    Results and key takeaways

    1. Goal setting, and auto- features, are attractive features for users, as they simplify the Roth IRA Contribution and investment task.
    2. Current progress dashboard does not encourage users to regularly check-in with their progress.
    What really worked
    Filter preferences

    Users felt in control of their options, and that they could confidently make a choice from their search results.

    Users enjoyed the the feature to add multiple locations, and felt that the extensive provider preferences helped narrow down their options.

    Persona Reflection

    Our Roth IRA contributor can be best represented by the ‘Low-effort, Target fund’ user.
    This user’s goal is to be consistent with saving; The results show that they are likely to be successful in consistently contributing and furthermore, reaching their goal within the contribution year.

    We will break down the elements that led to our users’ success in the next section.

    Analysis

    Usability analysis of feature 1

    Add filters

    User success! ✅
    Strategy
    Personalize preferences for best search results
    Research Insight
    Users felt in control of their options when adding their preferences
    Usability analysis of feature 2

    Save new filter

    Needs improvement ⚠️
    Strategy
    Create and save personal preferences for future searches
    Research Insight
    Overall straightforward and easy task for users
    Usability analysis of feature 3

    Use saved filter

    User success! ✅
    Strategy
    Make it easy for users to make repeat searches
    Research Insight
    Users felt it was easy as well as manageable with the number of results they were given

    Kano Analysis to sort usability test comments in regards to features present / not present

    Highlighted in gradients of orange, are areas that were recommended for improvement / change.
    Those not highlighted have been positively validated by users.

    Priority Revisions

    Update
    ‘Save recent search’ feature was added to the filters page
    Research Insight
    Users were quick to navigate to filters page for filter related tasks despite available functions on the current page.
    Update
    To be a source of the most up-to-date information, our users will receive a notification about their doctor’s upcoming network status change.
    Research Insight
    A user asked if they’ll receive a notification about their provider leaving their network.

    ← Pursuit of Health

    Roth IRA →

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    BackgroundThe SolutionPrimary ResearchIdeation & DefinitionPriority RoadmapInformation ArchitectureInteraction & UI designTesting & Iterations
    BackgroundThe SolutionPrimary ResearchIdeation & DefinitionPriority RoadmapInformation ArchitectureInteraction & UI designTesting & Iterations