Kristie Callander
Corporate Website Design
UX and UI design of an interoperable enterprise-level billing solution
My Role: Lead UX/UI Designer
Team: Consists of Product Owner, Business Analysts, and Developers
If you understand medical billing then you know the complexities that are involved. From the various billing codes to the numerous providers and plans and the specific rules that apply from state to state, it is not easy information to digest or present. There was a need for a medical billing solution that would integrate with other healthcare case management-focused products in the company's suite; one they could monetize by bundling with the other products and one that would add process value to the other products.
This case study will describe the design process of how I developed the product interface to a modern but warm and friendly look that is digestible and user-centered.
*In consideration of a non-disclosure agreement, information on the project may be omitted or obfuscated in this case study. The information in this case study is my own and does not reflect any views of my employer and clients.
My Role
UX/UI Design Lead
I was brought on early of the design of this product when it was considered an MVP. Teaming up with the Product Owner and Business Analysts, I was the point person for communicating with the stakeholders the design decisions that were presented. I also worked closely with the development team to provide guidance on styling specifications such as CSS code for components, pattern standards, and interaction behaviors to name a few.
The Challenge
Design a new interoperable solution that is data-heavy
Medical billing and claims data consists of many variables including service event and procedure codes, program and provider information, and changing variables such as costs just to name a few. Consider this as a very complex and detailed spreadsheet. We needed a way to present all this data, have it integrate with our other systems, and have functionality that would make calls to outside systems for updated data.
Some of the key elements I needed to keep in mind were:
Development process uses Domain Driven Design
Present claim information such as billing codes and descriptions in a concise and user-friendly way
Understand the nuances from state to state and determine what would go into core product versus a branch of the product
Bulk actions such as editing
Visibility of changes to records and claims in real-time
Design to be in conformance with corporate Design System
Responsive Design
Accessibility
(graphic showing detailed spreadsheets and ddd diagram)
Additional challenges for MVP and B2B software include
Design requirements come from stakeholders and limited resources for user research and analysis
High Accessibility standards
User feedback - mostly from internal stakeholders
Design Process
Research - Product Demonstration & Collecting Feedback
With such a large and robust product, a walk-through was needed in order to understand the various user roles and potential workflows each of those roles needs to perform in order to complete certain tasks. As this product is an enterprise-level product, many features are role-specific, meaning certain log-in credentials reveal specific modules and features. I also met and interviewed the Product Owner and various BAs who were able to provide specific complaints their clients had while navigating the system.
Heuristics Analysis
A thorough analysis was performed to ‘score’ the current product’s design and functionality against certain benchmarks;
General application of UI best practices
UI component usage
User purpose and intent
This enable the team to see where improvements needed to be made and gave me an opportunity to suggest improvements.
Some of the takeaways from this analysis are:
The system needs to be designed with visual/interaction consistency
508 and accessibility need to be kept in mind;
best practices for UI component usage need to be followed
and the workflow effort is too great and should be designed with the end-user in mind.
Align Expectations and Goals
After the UI review and heuristics analysis was completed, clarification of redesign expectations and goals were needed. While there was an agreement among executives and other stakeholders that the UI needed to be modernized, many additional workflow and functionality problems were identified during the research of the product. Knowing that this was a launched product, we had to be sensitive to the current system users in not making too many drastic changes that would cause training issues. After presenting the findings, I was able to develop a final design plan based on aligned goals with resource considerations in mind.
Redesign - patient safety, best practices, consistent components
Branding
Accessibility
UI Design
Redesign - Best Practices and Patient Safety in the Forefront
Branding - refreshed look, style guide for developers
Accessibility
Takeaways
Challenges:
The redesign of the older system was quite a challenge on several fronts;
Working with two different architectural frameworks made it difficult to have complete 1-1 consistency at the component level
Trying to update the system to gain new clients while not disrupting the experience of current users
Learning to be flexible and iterate when working with the development team.
Communication:
This project showed the various teams; UX, BAs, and the development team, the importance of having a detailed style guide that not only identifies the look and feel of components but also helps to identify the correct interaction of components and correct usage of patterns. Being the lead designer on this project, I had to be flexible to make changes to the design and be accessible for developers while they are working on the project. I was in constant communication with the BAs in helping to write backlog items to get the project completed based on approved recommendations.