Redesigning the Pharmacy Experience
Ask: As the Consumer Experience team, we want to design the future state experience for the pharmacy experience, from in-office prescription issuance to subsequent prescription renewal.
Role: Service, content and UX Designer
Responsibilities: Mobile designs, ux writing, storyboards, paper prototypes, design requirements, research and analysis
Outcome: An in-app health and wellness management system, focused on providing members with access to digestible, actionable information pertaining to prescription renewal, pre-authorizations, drug adherence and other relevant details.
Approach: As lead designer on this project, I was asked to refine two pharmacy concepts, aimed at reducing consumer and provider abrasion at the point of care. I began by reviewing and analyzing qualitative and quantitative research to better understand the end to end journey of a member. One of the main issues that members encounter is the information gap, between member and providers and between members and their insurance company.
To better understand where these information breakdowns occur, I created a service blueprint and a loose journey map. I also created two diagrams: one highlighting ways that we inform our members of changes and one that could serve as a tentative digital strategy, with recommendations for the types of information that we should provide to members by channel.
Once I reviewed this with the team, we decided to focus on information breakdowns that occur within the pharmacy experience, beginning when medicine is initially prescribed for the member through prescription renewal.
For this reason, we decided to adjust the strategy behind our in-app experience to provide members with access to digestible, actionable information. Through this approach, we hope to improve the prescription renewal process, reduce cost surprises and prevent some of the breakdowns triggered by pre-authorization.
Easily Renew PRescriptions
On the My Prescriptions screen, members can review information about drug adherence, history and can initiate prescription renewal before going to the doctor's office.
Changes in prescription coverage and other cost surprises are often a source of consumer frustration in the pharmacy experience. Giving members in-app access to those updates in real-time and providing them with coverage/cost alternatives can help members manage their health and balance their checkbook.
View Cost and Coverage Alternatives
On the Renew Prescription screen, information about coverage status, coverage changes and the cost of suitable alternatives.
Members with chronic health conditions often encounter additional abrasion when a prescription they need requires prior authorization. Resolving these issues can take days or weeks, and members often do not realize there is a problem until they arrive at the pharmacy and are unable to fill or refill a prescription.
Anticipate Pharmacy Interruptions
Now, through prescription renewal process, members can notify their doctors of prescription pre-authorization before a prescription is written or renewal request has been submitted for approval.
Access Prescription Cost and Care data
Prescription adherence was also a key concern we wanted to address, so we designed a Prescription Data view that allows members to track drug adherence and prescription cost history. Through these features, we hope to making it easier for members to talk to providers about treatment plans and prescription costs changes when they occur.
Communicate When things go wrong
In reviewing the end-to-end experience and considering a number of use cases scenarios, we realized that sometime things do not go as planned. For that reason, we decided to include messaging functionality to ensure that members and providers can work together to resolve issue when they occur.
An in-office Provider tool
To accomplish many of the pharmacy experience improvements, we decided to create a provider tool that could not only streamline the flow of information between members and providers, but address provider breakdowns and unwieldy workarounds.
PRovide Patient Care in Context
This provider tool to be a comprehensive system that will give providers access to member specific information in context. Some of the capabilities of this product include: electronic health records, coverage and health plans, pharmacy benefits, member preference (pharmacy), an extensive prescription repository, real-time cost updates, messaging functionality, and workflow management.
Early Sketches of the Workflow and Paper Prototypes (Provider and Member Experience)
Acknowledgement:
I acknowledge that some aspects of our solution might affect current provider workflows. In working on this project, I realized early on the accuracy of our solutions would require us to have greater clarity around the in-office experience. For that reason, I recommended that we conduct a series of contextual inquires to identify technology capabilities, provider workflows, breakdowns and workarounds. However, given HIPAA regulations we were ultimately unable to do so.