Built with intent: Designing health care products that work

Monday, December 9, 2024

[5 MIN READ]

Consumers have high expectations for digital products and apps – expectations that are often not met by health care products.
Providence’s Digital Innovation Group is changing that experience by designing health care products that work for patients and that can help improve their health.
Read on to learn more about the design process of bringing these digital health care products to life for patients.

Digital products and apps are meant to make our lives easier, and we expect a lot from them. When it comes to health care, these tools are held to an even higher standard. After all, we often use these products when we’re not feeling our best.

Fortunately, the experienced designers and developers in the Providence Digital Innovation Group (DIG) have a unique approach to creating health care products that solve problems for patients.

“Designing health care products that work for patients is crucial because these products impact health outcomes and quality of life for patients,” says Lisa Mason, associate vice president, product design and insights for Providence’s Digital Innovation Group. “Our goal is to create products that meet the needs of each patient which improves patient satisfaction and helps them stick to care plans.”

Designed with patients in mind

DIG puts a lot of energy into making sure the products it designs ultimately solve problems for patients. That means constantly gathering feedback and analyzing data (even after people start using the product) and including users through participatory design — an opportunity to gather feedback from potential users before the final product is built.

“During the design process, participatory design makes it clear to users that we’re building with them instead of for them, which makes it more likely that the solution will be successful,” says Mason. “Later on in the design process and after we launch products, we work to gain insight into how users interact with them – what features they are using, where they are getting stuck – to make it more intuitive for them.”

When working on new products, the team is constantly focused on:

Accessibility: Designing products to be accessible to the widest possible audience, including patients with visual, auditory or motor impairments. This approach not only enhances usability and functionality but also improves the product experience for all users.
Overcoming barriers to care: Using technology to improve health care access for the poor and vulnerable, in line with Providence’s mission. That also includes overcoming financial, geographic and language barriers to create products that work for everyone.
Usability: Making sure products are easy to use, especially when patients are not feeling well, to make sure they can get the care they need.
Personalization: Thinking about how factors like age, gender and location impact patients’ behaviors. For example, patients in cities might not want to travel more than 15 miles to receive care, while rural patients may be willing to travel more than 100 miles.

“When we set out to identify what products we want to build, we always start with a deep dive in understanding the customer problem,” says Mason. “We do a lot of research including one-on-one interviews, surveys and even observing users in their day-to-day environments. This research helps us gather insights into customers’ experiences, needs and challenges.”

Products created with purpose

The Providence team follows a clearly defined, five-step process to create health care products that meet customer needs:

Discover: The design team engages with a diverse group of users to understand their challenges.
Define: After the team collects data, they make sure they are solving the right problem through a clear problem statement that guides them through the process.
Design: During this highly collaborative step, the team works with key stakeholders and users to brainstorm ideas, create prototypes and refine their models.
Development: At this stage, the team’s ideas become tangible as they work closely with designers and engineers to make sure the technology products address the problem.
Deploy: The process doesn’t stop once the new product is available for patients. The team continues to monitor product performance, gather feedback and make adjustments.

Feedback from Providence’s patients has been extremely positive. In fact, 50% of the Providence app’s three million users come back to the tool after 30 days.

“By engaging directly with consumers during the design process, we can tailor solutions to meet them where they are,” says Mason. “That increases the likelihood that our products will be utilized and improve health outcomes.”

Building products in times of need

One product that came to life through this process was the Grace chatbot. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many patients were anxious when they began to experience symptoms, and the number of calls to Providence hospitals and clinics skyrocketed.

That led DIG to develop Grace, which was designed to help patients understand if their symptoms were related to COVID-19 and if they should visit their doctor. Patients could get connected to their providers for virtual visits, preventing them from potentially exposing others or getting exposed themselves in crowded waiting rooms.

After the pandemic, DIG expanded Grace’s capabilities based on user feedback and changing needs. Grace now helps with medication refills and appointment requests and can even message providers. These tools offer new ways for patients to connect with their care teams, but the designers are careful to ensure that patients have the experience they have come to expect from their digital tools.

“Patients come to our health system with the same expectations for technology as they do for other industries, but with the added wrinkle that they might be sick or not at their best when they are engaging with us,” says Mason. “Having an empathetic approach in understanding the nuances of these users makes us better human beings, better designers and better equipped to meet the needs of the customer.”

Contributing caregiver

Lisa Mason is the associate vice president of product design and insights for Providence’s Digital Innovation Group.

Find a doctor

Your provider can connect you to care and treatments that can improve your quality of life. If you are looking for a primary care provider, you can search for one who’s right for you in our provider directory.

Download the Providence app

It’s all in the app: easily stay connected with Providence and your health. With the Providence app, you can schedule appointments, have virtual visits from the comfort of your own home, get health recommendations personalized for you, access your health records and so much more. Learn more and download the app.