UX lead for a health coverage portal and brand marketing website
The goal of this project was to launch a completely new brand marketing site and healthcare
portal to support brokers in connecting small businesses with health coverage for their employees while streamlining a complex and high-regulated process for users.
My Role
As the UX Lead, I provided oversight to a team of 5 UX designers while also contributing detailed designs for a complex healthcare portal. I worked alongside a team of UI designers across two work streams, providing UX context and support. I collaborated closely with client stakeholders, product owners, developers, client services, and project managers to ensure we delivered under an incredibly tight timeline.
What was the problem?
The current process for providing healthcare solutions to small businesses is very complex. A broker facilitates the transaction between the small business and a healthcare provider with a ton of legal paperwork and collection of personal identifiable information (PII). This all happens offline with brokers sending countless emails to these already stressed small business owners. We needed to streamline this process for existing brokers and businesses with the long-term goal of making this process fully manageable for the small business owner, removing the need for a costly middleman.
How did we solve it?
This project included two streams of work; the marketing site (aimed at small business owners and healthcare brokers) and the broker portal. I provided detailed designs as well as design oversight as we worked on these two simultaneously to meet our tight deadline.
Discovery Workshop
Our team started by workshopping user journeys and personas with the subject matter experts. We also mapped out each of these complex flows in order to understand the end-to-end process. There had also been existing user research which we frequently referenced.
Personas and Journey Maps from the Discovery Workshop
Process Flows
I met regularly with client stakeholders and our product teams to outline detailed product requirements. Throughout those conversations, I mapped out user flows in order to understand this process at a high level.
Screenshots of flows which I created to better understand the end-to-end process
Information Architecture
I outlined the information architecture of both the marketing site and the broker portal before diving into design. These site maps went through a few iterations as the team continued to learn more about product and legal requirements.
Site maps for MVP and future release of the marketing site and broker portal
Marketing Site Designs
I oversaw a team of UX designers working on the marketing site. We worked closely with our content strategists and UI designers in order to accurately message two very distinct audiences with the goal of converting site visitors to contact the appropriate internal sales channels.
Screenshots of some of our wireframe and high fidelity site designs
Interaction Concepting & Search Design
The bulk of the marketing site included a comprehensive Provider Search. We looked at competitive examples, I led interaction concepting sessions to generate ideas, and we consulted with our technology team to make sure we understood the full capabilities of this search feature.
The Provider Search underwent multiple iterations as we learned more about the provider data, and myself and our UI team worked closely with our Drupal engineers in order to design this critical piece of the marketing site experience.
Screenshots from the remote, interactive concepting sessions which I facilitated
Just some of the Find a Provider wireframes and high fidelity designs
Portal Designs
The broker portal was the most complex piece of this project. I worked with product owners and client stakeholders to understand the end-to-end process and to design a solution which would meet the needs of these healthcare brokers while adhering to regulatory and legal requirements.
Dashboard
I designed a broker dashboard with various data elements for audiences with different permissions; general agents and brokers. General agents manage a team of brokers and can therefore see everything in their book of business. Brokers only manage specific accounts. The primary goal for this portal is to support the sales and onboarding for small businesses looking for healthcare coverage for their employees.
Wireframes and designs for the broker and general agent portal dashboard
Group Profiles
Outside the dashboard, a bulk of the work takes place on the individual company profile. On this profile, I’ve included a visual outline of the sales process for brokers to easily reference. The broker can see their progress as they move throughout the process along with supportive, descriptive copy which helps explain when the broker needs to take action and when action is being taken on the back-end.
Wireframes and designs for the individual Group (or employer) profiles
Proposals & Employer Applications
Outside of the portal, employers and employees need to provide a few key pieces of information. We designed a distinct employee health application as well as tools for brokers to manage, review, and share healthcare proposals with the employer.
We created a distinct experience for the Employer and Employee Health Applications with a more consumer friendly layout. These applications are triggered from the broker portal and the broker monitors the status of these applications from the portal.
Wireframes of the broker proposal review and employer applications
What was the result?
We were able to streamline a process that was previously handled through numerous phone calls and emails between business owners, brokers, and health coverage providers. We also launched a brand new marketing site for multiple distinct audiences under a tight timeline with frequently changing business and legal requirements (including a complete rebrand midway through the design work).
What would I do differently?
Access to our key users was very limited. We had existing user research which we referenced when appropriate, but the client was very hesitant to perform any usability testing. I put together usability test plans that included financials to help win them over, but at the end of the day, other concerns took priority. If I started this project over again today, I might consider ways to slot in usability testing as part of our ongoing work or work with our client services team to figure out ways to work testing into our Statement of Work.