Focused on optimizing access to care, our goal was twofold: to streamline the user journey and drive utilization of high-quality providers. Through a combination of user research, iterative design, and strategic implementation, our efforts resulted in a remarkable 7% surge in contracted provider utilization. This case study delves into the insights, challenges, and solutions that marked the successful redesign, ultimately reshaping the way members engage with Sana's ecosystem of providers.
We faced a significant challenge with a low Net Promoter Score (NPS) and a surge in access support tickets, leading to elevated internal operational and claims costs. The low NPS rating not only indicated a potential reduction in retention rates but also signaled an overall subpar member experience. In response, the team embarked on a mission to comprehensively understand the reasons behind our members' difficulties in accessing care through Sana.
A seamless experience that prioritizes and helps guide members to quality providers that hides the complexity from our members. The current way to find care through Sana was taxing and required a lot of effort from our members, we set out to create a solution that reduces decision making and helps member's reliably access the care they need to feel their best.
I set out to interview 10 Sana members and learn about our members' experiences while finding care with Sana’s ecosystem (or network) of contracted providers, to identify any pain points, opportunities, and user needs. After 8 interviews a few high-level themes started to emerge.
Members struggle to find providers who accept Sana using the tools and resources that are available to them. The bar is set too high which leads to frustrating experience
The current way of “finding care” could be better, and takes a lot of Member effort and time, and isn’t messaged/laid out in a clear way
Provider and Facility access still dominates our members pain points. Our self-serve resources we do provide are not enough to help members self-serve
Using these insights we were able to start crafting high-level hypotheses that would allow us to iterate and test to see what impacts these would make.
Many other hypotheses were formed from this research but we felt like this one would allow us to ship a meaningful improvement to learn from very quickly.
We felt confident in our hypothesis which meant we could focus on tight iteration and feedback loops. Knowing that our members struggled to find providers who accept and easily work with Sana meant this improvement could have a huge impact.
Starting with wireframes allowed for this project to start getting pieced together very quickly. Over a two-day design sprint, I put together high-level user flows, gathered feedback from key stakeholders, and discussed feasibility with our engineering team.
User flow of how we can prioritize contracted providers in our Find Care tool
Close up of my initial wireframes with detailed notes for fast async feedback
My wireframes successfully served their purpose, garnering sufficient feedback and alignment to propel me confidently into higher fidelity and the prototyping phase. While maintaining the momentum, I initiated usability testing using usertesting.com, pinpointing areas for improvement. Although these iterations might appear incremental, each round bolstered my confidence in the stylistic direction and, more importantly, in the effective resolution of our members' challenges.
Showing off three rounds of iteration and user feedback
The significant alteration involves visually distinguishing our Contract Providers by introducing a vibrant yellow badge and corresponding map pin. This deliberate visual cue serves to elevate Contract Providers above other network options, enabling members to swiftly identify them when seeking care. This departure from the previous uniform UI style for all providers within the tool aims to eliminate unnecessary complexity, thereby enhancing our members' overall experience.
After a few iterations and many user tests, I felt confident about pushing this forward. We wouldn’t know the impact this update could make without putting this in front of actual users. Next, I laid out very detailed handoff specs for interaction details.
Detailed interactions of the updated provide detail cards and map pins
After monitoring for approximately 30 days, we observed a remarkable 7% surge in Contracted Provider utilization. Prior to this update, our Contract Provider utilization hovered around 11%, making this enhancement a significant driver that catapulted total utilization to roughly a fifth of our total submitted claims. Our initial hypothesis not only held true in terms of increased utilization but also demonstrated a likely reduction in access support tickets. This transformative update not only streamlined member access to care but also showcased the dual impact of a seemingly simple yet highly effective enhancement.
