Kaiser Permanente Digital Healthcare

Building a digital healthcare ecosystem during a global pandemic

In late 2020, two of the biggest topics in the world were healthcare and video calls. Kaiser Permanente hired YML to create a new digital healthcare ecosystem, including on-demand support via video, telephone, or chat. We needed to quickly understand how to deliver simple UX for patients, while navigating the complex needs and constraints of the healthcare industry.

Dramatic improvements across key metrics

The result was a self-service tool called Get Care Now, a virtual care solution that leverages smart symptom assessment to increase speed, success, and ease of use for people to get care in the midst of a global pandemic. In less than a year, Kaiser Permanente's web and mobile redesigns improved member's overall satisfaction with digital from 86% to 92%, the first increase after a five-year flat trend.

Designing for all patients

We couldn't assume that every patient is a young, tech-friendly, and healthy individual. We kept accessibility considerations at the forefront of our thinking, and sought to never make the patient have to make any assumptions.

Understanding the real needs of doctors

One of the biggest challenges was understanding the true needs of doctors. During our design process, we interviewed doctors that worked at KP and heard the realities of their days. Schedules are often behind, so doctors are rarely able to be early or precisely on time to their virtual appointments.

This led to an extremely high rate of failed calls because patients would leave the call after waiting for 10 minutes and never hearing from their doctor. Implementing a system where doctors can easily alert their patients that they were running late was a core need, so we created an alert system for both doctors and patients.