Setting the Scene
Background:
Bellese Technology is a government contractor partnering with the Center for Medicare Services (CMS) on MPSM (Medicare Payment Systems Modernization). MPSM aims to update pricing systems from COBOL to Java. As Healthcare Design & Research Lead, I provided design research and enhanced the team's knowledge of annual release cycles and healthcare policies. PC Pricers, a public-facing tool that allowed users to estimate claim prices before submitting them to CMS, provided limited information and was a poor user experience.
Bellese Technology is a government contractor partnering with the Center for Medicare Services (CMS) on MPSM (Medicare Payment Systems Modernization). MPSM aims to update pricing systems from COBOL to Java. As Healthcare Design & Research Lead, I provided design research and enhanced the team's knowledge of annual release cycles and healthcare policies. PC Pricers, a public-facing tool that allowed users to estimate claim prices before submitting them to CMS, provided limited information and was a poor user experience.
My efforts:
- Collaborate with Development and CMS business stakeholders.
- Design research, document technical processes, and report findings to stakeholders.
- Redesign of the PC Pricer, including secondary research, primary research, design & development pairing, and experience design of the updated estimator.
- Collaborate with Development and CMS business stakeholders.
- Design research, document technical processes, and report findings to stakeholders.
- Redesign of the PC Pricer, including secondary research, primary research, design & development pairing, and experience design of the updated estimator.
Kickoff:
- Introduced a new Product Owner (PO) to HCD and minimized friction by gathering stakeholder needs and business goals.
- Collaborated with United States Digital Service (USDS) representatives, including HCD and Product teams, to ensure continuous progress and advocate for the end user.
- Documented user needs, created OKRs and KPIs, and tested assumptions.
- Represented the user's perspective during the research, design, and development.
- Introduced a new Product Owner (PO) to HCD and minimized friction by gathering stakeholder needs and business goals.
- Collaborated with United States Digital Service (USDS) representatives, including HCD and Product teams, to ensure continuous progress and advocate for the end user.
- Documented user needs, created OKRs and KPIs, and tested assumptions.
- Represented the user's perspective during the research, design, and development.
Design Research
Process:
- Stakeholder interviews with CMS team members.
- Desk research on CMS policy manuals to inform research plans. Policy manuals were summarized for stakeholders
- Wrote plans, facilitated, and conducted user interviews. (Personas below)
- Utilized Google Analytics to understand user trends
- Performed a Heuristics review to document the previous experience. (Heuristics below)
- Stakeholder interviews with CMS team members.
- Desk research on CMS policy manuals to inform research plans. Policy manuals were summarized for stakeholders
- Wrote plans, facilitated, and conducted user interviews. (Personas below)
- Utilized Google Analytics to understand user trends
- Performed a Heuristics review to document the previous experience. (Heuristics below)
IRF Experience Heuristics Review:
During the research phase, to prepare for user interviews and build an understanding of the product, I performed a heuristic review of the current experience. The review output included stakeholder notes, documentation of error messages, and an in-line analysis of how the tool makes or breaks the heuristic guidelines. The final output and what would act as the template for user research in the future are the heuristics translated into "Assumptions" to ensure that the review identified opportunities for improvement maps to user needs.
During the research phase, to prepare for user interviews and build an understanding of the product, I performed a heuristic review of the current experience. The review output included stakeholder notes, documentation of error messages, and an in-line analysis of how the tool makes or breaks the heuristic guidelines. The final output and what would act as the template for user research in the future are the heuristics translated into "Assumptions" to ensure that the review identified opportunities for improvement maps to user needs.
Personas:
PC Pricer Journey Mapping:
Original Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF) PC Pricer Experience:
The current PC Pricer experience is shown below, and the Inpatient Rehab Facilities is one of eight PC Pricers.
Observations:
- PC Pricers are updated quarterly; this lag resulted in users emailing the support inbox with complaints.
- PC Pricers are only usable on PCs; Apple users built workarounds to accomplish their pricing tasks.
- Minimal support is provided in experience; required fields are not marked.
- Users stated that they do not use most of the output information, leading to confusion.
- Users rely on screenshots when claims are paid at an unexpected reimbursement.
The current PC Pricer experience is shown below, and the Inpatient Rehab Facilities is one of eight PC Pricers.
Observations:
- PC Pricers are updated quarterly; this lag resulted in users emailing the support inbox with complaints.
- PC Pricers are only usable on PCs; Apple users built workarounds to accomplish their pricing tasks.
- Minimal support is provided in experience; required fields are not marked.
- Users stated that they do not use most of the output information, leading to confusion.
- Users rely on screenshots when claims are paid at an unexpected reimbursement.
Experience Design
Experience Design:
- Created design sketches, wireframes, and prototypes in Figma.
- Gathered feedback on design concepts from stakeholders through various methods and ensured 508 compliance.
- Created design sketches, wireframes, and prototypes in Figma.
- Gathered feedback on design concepts from stakeholders through various methods and ensured 508 compliance.
Outcome
Features:
- Detailing what is required vs. additional for users.
- Including help text to provide suggested formatting and content.
- Detailing what is required vs. additional for users.
- Including help text to provide suggested formatting and content.
- Immediate error messaging for incorrect inputs or formatting.
- Format to allow users to view their inputs and outputs at the same time
- Providing help text to provide contextual information for users. For deeper information, users may select "more info" to be taken to the Help page.
- Users may save their outputs as PDFs for better file management.
- Format to allow users to view their inputs and outputs at the same time
- Providing help text to provide contextual information for users. For deeper information, users may select "more info" to be taken to the Help page.
- Users may save their outputs as PDFs for better file management.
