Iteration to Implementation
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Optum was creating a membership portal for their Harken Health project that combined sensitive health information, secure messaging via email, text & video, scheduling, banking and insurance information into a single access point.
A significant KPI was identified: how do you integrate complex insurance information in an easy to digest manner? Would this entail a single screen? What about cross over into other areas?
The Goal
Create an interface that can combine elements such as individual and family deductibles, out of pocket maximums, current status on each of those items for every family member in an easy to read and interpret format.
We needed to be aware of additional areas where these figures may come into play and incorporate the same style of components and information if and when applicable.
Approach & Research
The first step with such a complex subject matter was to collaborate with Product Owners, Business Analysts, Information Architects and, most importantly, end users. There was a vast quantity of data but we wanted to simplify as much as possible. What were the most important items to see? What was the most confusing? What do they wish could be clearer? Had any previous attempts been made within the organization to visualize this data? What worked and what didn’t? Did any interaction with the data need to take place?
The following conclusions were drawn from those questions:
Collective and individual data of deductibles and out of pocket maximums was essential along with a way to easily switch between them — showing all was overwhelming.
Claim status & payment history, costs of prescriptions and copays were also wanted.
Being able to see the status between the 3 different networks of claims was critical.
Strategy
Gathering the required information was the easy part, trying to come up with a design that worked not only for the end users but was technically feasible by the development team in a timely manner was another.
Many iterations were made but eventually a uniform style was created and implemented through collaboration, trial and error and user testing.
Process & Implementation
These strategies were implemented by:
Having a single location that showcased the critical information of money spent towards overall family and individual deductibles, family and individual out of pocket maximums, money spent on prescriptions vs money spent on medications and a recap of their health insurance plan.
All pertinent data was formatted a large and easy to read style combined with visual indicators of the progress via a status bar.
The Claims section followed this visual style allowing for faster user adoption.
End Result
When deployed, feedback from the users was universal in their adoption and comprehension of the style:
Complaints and calls about benefits & spending dropped by 19% after 2 weeks.
Average time spent reviewing this data set decreased by 15%.
