Google Health
Humanizing Healthcare
S U M M A R Y
We were awarded 1st place for the functional Android native app we created to help individuals make informed decisions with regard to health insurance
T E A M
Amruta Apté, Charlie Caldwell, Elliot Chuh, Hassan Niazi, Mark Eugster, Patrick Ziajski, Prasann Ranade, Shannon Wackett & Myself
M Y R O L E
UX/UI Designer, Prototyper
T I M E L I N E
24h
THE CHALLENGEResearch indicates that having more engaged and informed patients could improve health outcomes, lead to better patient care and lower costs.
How might we create meaningful solutions to improve our communities’ access to healthcare services?
By the way, you only have 24h–have your app built ready for tomorrow.
STRATEGY@ 0 H R S
Understand & Decide
Project brief with Google executives
Team meeting
Data analysis (Data Scientists)
Vote & decide
@ 5 H R S
Ideate & Design
Brainstorming & sketching
Task flow & wireframing
Prototyping
@ 1 7 H R S
Build & Pitch
Develop app (Web Developers)
Create submission deck
Script writing
Presentation
UNDERSTAND
& DECIDE
TEAM APPROACHWith a team consisting of two Data Scientists, four UX Designers, two Web Developers and a Digital Marketer, we needed to get on the same page.
We established a plan that helped us move forward:
# 1
With only 24h, we knew that time management and workload awareness would be critical
# 2
It wasn’t a bonus if everyone got to contribute–it was imperative that everyone’s skillset be utilized to create the strongest deliverable
# 3
We wanted to come to a solution together that everyone was excited about (no dictatorships allowed)
# 4
No all-nighters or sacrificing self sanity - really, we all just wanted to do best, learn something new and have a good time
RESEARCHGiven the timeframe, we decided to look at data that would be quickest to analyze while also giving significant insights moving forward.
Our data scientists were able to establish a clear relationship between uninsured individuals and living under the poverty line, so we came to the consensus that accessibility to health insurance had great potential for further exploration.
KEY INSIGHTSOur data scientists kept digging, initializing a thorough predictive model for insurance plans.
After combing everything through, three main insights were revealed:
# 1
INCOMPLETEWhen choosing a health insurance plan, people make decisions based on insufficient information
# 2
CONFUSINGInformation on health insurance plans are relayed in a confusing and inconsistent manner
# 3
CHALLENGINGEven after choosing a plan, finding in-network services & availability for patients can be difficult
IDEATE
& DESIGN
THE QUESTIONIn order to address these key insights, we refined the overarching design question to:
How might we improve community health insurance access to ensure patients find network services in their budget?
PROTO-PERSONANow it was time to think about who we were designing for. Drawing from the data, our user was likely an uninsured individual living in Texas. He just wants a simple way to take in insurance options to see what they can afford.
USER STORIESNext we needed to develop an understanding of what content was important. Considering not everyone was coming from a design background, we opted to write user stories because they explain in plain English what something does and how it adds value.
Keeping the Derek in mind, we decided on three key user stories to further develop:
# 1
As a shopper, I want to be matched to the best insurance policy so that I don’t have to explore option
After easily entering their personal details in a click through questionnaire an appropriate insurance provider match will be generated.
# 2
As a shopper, I want to easily see what all my options are so that I don’t miss out on a better choice
Having an exhaustive library gives people a resource to explore countless insurance providers, helping them make an informed decision.
# 3
As a shopper, I want to understand all the terminology so that I know what is included in each policy
Embedded throughout the app, anyone can click on confusing vocabulary to give a simple definition. This helps to make the app accessible to everyone.
SKETCHINGLooking at our user stories, I took on the responsibility to draw up both the low and mid-fidelity wireframes before transitioning to the computer to help with efficiency.
These are the designs I came up with:
Insurance match
The first screen is for user onboarding while the second screen displays your best matchesExplore options
This screen details all of the relevant information to each insurance policy in an easily digestible formatUnderstand terminology
Complicated words specific to insurance plans will be underlined an the user will be able to click on it to get a definition
COLLECTING ASSETSNow it was time to create a high-fidelity prototype as fast as possible because the web developers were patiently waiting to start the build!
Considering we were building for Google, it was important that we closely adhered to the Material Design Guidelines so that our product was ready for launch.
BUILD
& PITCH
HIGH-FIDELITYAnd here it is, all put together!
While clicking through keep in mind that you are trying to quickly find an insurance plan that matches your needs.
*Believe it or not we had extra time so you’ll also find an interactive map I created that allows users to see what locations are nearby included in their coverage.
PRESENTATIONFinally, it was time to share our hard work with the Google panel. We needed to:
share the key ideas
show a walk through of the prototype, and ultimately
sell our solution
Using the script we crafted that morning, we gave our best pitch - and the feedback was positive! They especially liked the understand feature, stating it was “something they could definitely see Google doing”.
NEXT STEPSWe see our product integrating as a part of the core functionality on the Google Health dashboard.
Accessing and storing insurance information will allow the Google Health AI to make informed suggestions for in-network healthcare services. This will streamline communication with hospitals, further empowering users to take control over their own healthcare.
Moving forward, we are poised to develop our proof of concept into complete solutions, given the green light from Google Health.
KEY LEARNINGS# 1
Pushing the comfort zone
Initially it was completely overwhelming to design an app that would help people access health insurance considering I lived in Canada my entire life and have only ever known free insurance.
Same goes with designing for Android - up until this point I had only designed for iOS.
But there’s no time to learn like the present! Boy did I do a lot of research and push myself more than I thought possible.
# 2
Communicate
Checking in frequently was key. What kind of data were you able to find? What do you think of this design? How many hours will you need to build this? Do you need any help with the presentation deck?
Things that made sense to me weren’t necessarily clear to others on the team. By talking openly and frequently we were able to avoid major hiccups and stay on track with our solution. Ultimately, this is what I attribute our success to.
# 3
More is more..?
When we first started I didn’t have the first clue what the data scientists were actually going to do, how many screens the web developers would be able to build or what value having a digital marketer brought to the team.
Working together not only opened my eyes to what the other disciplines were capable of, but also to how that added value and built a superior solution as a whole.