Overview
Our Clinical Team produced a write-up and video that highlight the key components of HC360, while introducing the value proposition of Guaranteed Outcomes. This piece also touches on how we leverage data to customize patient outreaches for maximum efficacy. There is currently no other solution in Health Care that integrates nearly a dozen unique data streams, AI & predictive modeling, with real-time coordination between care providers, insurers, and clients. If you have a few minutes, take a peek:
It was a bold move to present this video to clients in early 2019 with a promise to meet a 1/1/20 launch date.
Rough Beginnings
It’s not uncommon for technologists and developers feel the pressure of accelerated schedules and demands for features when sales teams make promises to clients. This isn’t new to the enterprise, but it’s not often the business promises our clients an industry first that represents the largest technology initiative in the history of the company. Keep in mind, Express Scripts was a Fortune 50 company before the Cigna merger in late 2018, and Health Connect 360 was expected to be delivered during the period of reorganization post-merger (2019-2020). Add to this that our technology organization had yet to adopt Agile methodologies, and they planned to use HC360 as a lead vehicle on that effort.
Commitments were made across the organization to our ELT, as well as clients, that we’d be ready for open-enrollment and hit the 1/1/20 launch date. The product would leverage 4 existing data streams and create 5 more. From an infrastructure standpoint, there were only legacy architectures and APIs, and the services were not adapted for the Cloud or DevOps framework. Engineering-speak aside, we were not set up for success.
From a user-experience standpoint, there was only limited visibility into a set of loosely-defined requirements. So of course I signed up for the program. I handed off my Mobile Lead role to one of my directs, and went to work. Challenge accepted.
UX Integration
HC360 represents the first foray of the Express Scripts Experience Design (XD) org into Client UX. The team had strictly resourced only patient-facing programs. None of our technology partners had worked with UX Design, UX Research, or Accessibility. Getting the interface designed and tested with users was flagged as an immediate bottleneck, and a gate to progress. Even though HC360 was intended to be developed in an Agile framework, the program managers hadn’t transitioned from their waterfall mindsets. It was challenging.
The issue was figuring out how to get the UX design process integrated with our planning and delivery processes that had been well-established between our business partners and the technology org. It took several months, but we succeeded using a two-fold approach:
Refine and align the delivery process from Design to Engineering. We identified pain points with regularity, but change didn’t take hold until we organized a workshop with UX/XD and Engineering, plus our technology product owners (in person, pre-Covid 19). Using a design thinking framework, I co-facilitated the sessions with a great partner from our Agile delivery office. In addition to building empathy and familiarity with the teams building the product, we hammered out processes and checkpoints that have reduced delivery cycle times from months to weeks on most epics.
Become active in business and product planning, and inform requirements on programs that get resourced & roadmapped. One of the biggest barriers to maximizing the effectiveness of a UX team is to wait to engage them until a product is fully defined. By having UX involved in product planning, the enterprise gains new perspective on what their users expect, and what it takes to deliver compelling, intuitive user experiences that lead to good outcomes for the business. UX plays a major role in key metrics like digital engagement, activation rates, and conversions. Many of these metrics can drive revenue. Once our business partners understood the value of UX, they were receptive to co-planning. A year later, and we’re creating joint user-stories, pre-planning. We now have product requirements that capture each user’s motivations, so Design can optimize and prioritize controls and task flows. To say we’ve won them over, is an understatement.