Representative Case Study - Practice Management

Disclaimer: The following is a hypothetical scenario created for educational purposes. It does not relate to any actual products, organizations, projects, or proprietary information.

Context

As the lead designer on a legacy practice management solution supporting thousands of clients, some using the platform for over a decade, change must be introduced carefully. While more streamlined flows could enhance the user experience, disrupting established patterns could negatively impact long-term users.

Problem

When provisioning a new user, administrators currently navigate between four separate screens for User Administration, User Rights, Group Administration, and Groups, with the option to create the user as Care Provider, requiring a fifth drill in. As the system does not retain user context, administrators described the process as unnecessarily repetitive and error-prone when adding multiple new hires. They spent valuable time navigating between disconnected screens just to complete basic data entry.

Objective

With provider burnout already a growing concern, I saw an opportunity to better support our customers' well-being through a more thoughtful design. My goal was to consolidate related tasks, minimize clicks and duplicated efforts and establish clearer guidance.

At the same time, I recognized the need for a nuanced, consultative approach. Many practices had relied on this system for over a decade and were accustomed to certain flows. Any changes required respecting these established norms to avoid disruption.

With these considerations in mind, I set objectives around streamlining the core experience while maintaining flexibility. I aimed to significantly reduce task completion times through a consolidated, contextual design. Data validation and guidance would help minimize errors as well.

My Role

As the Senior UX lead for this project, it was my responsibility to thoroughly analyze the current challenges, carefully explore design solutions, and ensure the redesign met user needs while respecting existing workflows. I ideated and prototyped new concepts, worked closely with stakeholders to refine solutions, and led user groups to validate design decisions before implementation. My aim was to deliver an experience that significantly improved productivity while feeling intuitive and appropriate for these important customers.

Methodology

To develop an effective and enduring solution, I led comprehensive discovery, concept development and testing efforts. Initial stakeholder interviews captured diverse experiences and perspectives from providers, patients, and care teams. These nuanced insights uncovered both explicit and latent requirements. An iterative user-centered design process then involved rapidly prototyping potential experience concepts. Repeated rounds of participatory evaluation and refinement validated flexibility to accommodate a wide range of evolving use cases. This approach prioritized flexibility and future-proofing from inception by grounding each phase of work in collaborative research.

Solution

The solution included consolidating existing user and group profile pages into centralized User Management and Group Management sections within the practice management software.

The redesigned User Management section combines key user information, summaries, account details and configurations onto single profile pages. This allows the majority of individual user setup and edits to be handled efficiently from a single location.

Additionally, a Group Management section was developed to streamline configuration for teams or user types requiring common default settings. Medical staff can be managed collectively within pre-defined groups to reduce redundant tasks.

It was assumed that approximately 80% of management tasks could be accomplished solely within the simplified User Management page through its ability to handle both individual and bulk default editing. This consolidated approach addressed the common 80/20 usage scenario.

For the remaining 20% of cases requiring customized group configurations, the additional Group Management section provides flexibility. Both sections together aim to optimize the user experience for practice administrators through an intuitive centralized user and team management interface.

Results

The resulting design is an incredibly simplified flow that accommodates for the most common uses as well as edge-cases. As opposed to having five individual sections (User Administration, user Rights, Group Administration, Group Rights, and Care Providers) I simplified it to “User Management” and “Group Management.”

Within “User Management” one can complete the entire setup for a new user in the same screen. The process cuts numerous redundant fields and allows the majority of the fields to populated in correspondence with their assigned groups. Should a user need custom settings there is an edit tool from their user management profile that allows them to access unique rights via modal. Tables were also condensed and numerous instances of dropdown selections were replaced with smart searches.

The consolidated user and group management design exceeded goals for efficiency and satisfaction. Usability testing showed administrators could complete the full onboarding process for multiple new hires over 40% faster with 25% fewer errors compared to the previous interface.

Feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Providers appreciated how related tasks were logically bundled together, avoiding tedious toggling between screens. Intuitive section headers and guided flows made tasks self-explanatory. Customizable default profile settings also streamlined bulk additions.

Perhaps most notably, administrators reported the new design alleviated significant stress. One commented it "breathed life back into my days." Others noted the time savings allowed renewed focus on more engaging duties.

Quantitative metrics demonstrated the positive impact. Rates of multitasking and task switching during onboarding decreased by over 60%. Post-task surveys revealed higher job satisfaction, lower perceived workload.