Clarifying Questions

• Are we considering only Patient as a user or we are looking towards other user as well? Patient
• Are we looking to add features in the existing app or building a new app? Existing App
• If there is an exisiting app, what are the available features in the app? Patient Profile, History of visits, Customer Care

I am considering the user as a Patient. We have an existing app with the Patient Profile, History of Visits and Customer Care features and looking to add more features for the patient Engagement

User Persona

• Age: 30-50 years
• Working Professional
• Daily Life: Busy
• Health : Regular Health Problems

• Easy to look up for all the Hospitals covered under the user’s Insurance.
• Easy to see the calender of all the doctors of all the eligible hospitals.
• Can book an appointment with the preferred Doctor on one click through App.
• Video Consultation.
• Home Delivery of Medicine.
• Easy Conversation with the Doctor regarding your health post-consultation.
• Recommended Provider List

Priortized Solutions

Metrics

• Growth in % of patient booking an appointment on monthly basis.

1. CLARIFY: 
   1. Is there a specific user group to focus on? Should I assume the end user is the patient? You choose.
   2. Is there a specific type of patient care to focus on: ex. surgery recipients who require long term care, emergency room patients, quick check ups, etc.? You choose.
   3. Does this mobile app exist (ex. MyChart is a common mobile app used by hospitals)? You choose.
   4. Is there a specific region: US v. international? You choose. (I will focus on US.)
   5. Is this app for a single hospital v. multiple? You choose. (I’d like to focus on a multi-hospital app.)
   6. When you say “patient engagement”, is there a specific area of focus to think about? You choose.
2. USER GROUP: I believe there are 4 user groups to think about. For this app, I’d like to focus on patients, as they are the largest group, and I believe a mobile app for them will help most with the patient engagement focus.
   1. Hospital Workers: Hospital workers (doctors, nurses, etc.) to help with their day to day duties engaging with patients. There could also be non-medical workers engaging with patients too (secretaries for check in, patient aids, etc.).
   2. Patients: Individuals who are sick / requiring hospital assistance.
   3. Patient Care Givers: Patient care givers (family members, aids, etc.) who will be visiting patients / providing for them while they are sick
   4. Drug Reps: Pharmaceutical companies who provide medications for patients. Often they sell drugs to the hospitals.
3. USER JOURNEY:
   1. Patient gets sick or requires a check up.
   2. Patient sets up appointment at hospital or calls an ambulance / goes to the hospital in an emergency situation.
   3. Patient checks into hospital / provides insurance if available.
   4. Patient waits to see a doctor.
   5. Patient is sent to a room.
   6. Patient meets with a doctor and / or nurse. Gets prescriptions if needed.
   7. If needed, patient may go through surgery. (May have to do a follow up visit for surgery.)
   8. Patient may need to stay over night(s) or leaves hospital.
   9. Patient checks out. (Presuming here the patient does not die at the hospital, though this possibility is noted.)
   10. Patient pays any bills.
   11. Patient picks up any pharmeuticals as needed.
4. USER PAIN POINTS: Below are pain points associated with each step of the user journey.
   1. No Appointments: Patients is unable to find an appointment for a long time.
   2. Long Ambulance Wait: Patient has an emergency, but ambulance takes a long time to arrive.
   3. Specialist Doctor Unavailable: Patient is unable to find an appointment with a specific doctor or a specialist. Patient may also require follow ups / scheduling could be difficult.
   4. No Insurance: Patient does not have insurance / will face very high medical bills.
   5. Long Wait: Patient is required to wait for a long time to see a doctor. Hospital or ER is busy.
   6. Exposure to Others: Patient is very sick and requires isolation. May be exposed to other sick patients (ex. covid) in waiting room.
   7. Difficult Surgery: Patient must undergo an invasive medical procedure. Especially if patient is weak / old, even simple surgeries can be life threatening.
   8. Patient Lonely: Patient may get lonely / feel isolated if required to stay in hospital for a long time. Especially with covid, contact with others is very limited.
   9. Bad Hospital Food: Patient is forced to eat bad hospital food during stay.
   10. Expensive Bills: Patient must pay very expensive medical bills (regardless of insurance). Pharmaceuticals they need may also be very expensive.
   11. Drug Availability: Patient may be required to use expensive prescription drugs that may be hard to find. Generic options may not be available. Drugs also could be cheaper but with frequent use needed, cost builds / availability is strained.
5. PRIORITIZE PAIN POINTS:

   1. Pain Point	Impact to Patient
      No Appointment	High
      Long Ambulance Wait	Medium
      Specialist Doctor Unavailable	High
      No Insurance	Medium
      Long Wait	Medium
      Exposure to Others	High
      Difficult Surgery	Medium
      Patient Lonely	Low
      Bad Hospital Food	Low
      Expensive Bills	High
      Drug Availability	Medium

6. LIST SOLUTIONS: I’d like to list a few feature solutions based on these pain points.
   1. Online Calendar: Mobile app has a calendar of all doctor availability at a hospital. Patient can sort by doctor or specialty (ex. allergist) to help find an available appointment / make one.
   2. Hospital Connections: Mobile app could pull data across multiple hospitals to help patient find an appointment for a specialist doctor. For example, if a patient cannot find appointments soon for Hospital A, they may find one at Hospital B.
   3. 911 Button: Mobile App could have a 911 button that patient pushes to immediately send for an ambulance. Patient could have already provided demographic data to app, so 911 operators know who the patient is / their medical history.
   4. Insurance Filter: Patient could see a list of insurances across hospitals and filter to determine where their insurance is taken. Patient could also see options for low cost hospitals if they do not have insurance.
   5. ER Times: Patient could get real time updates with how full an ER is at a hospital. Patient would be able to see if Hospital A’s ER is very full, perhaps it’s better to try Hospital B even if it is slightly further.
   6. Exposure Notifications: Mobile app could allow patient to input whether they have special considerations re. exposure to others. Mobile app could send notifications (ex. similar to covid exposure notifications) if they are in harms way.
   7. Patient E-Card: If patient goes through surgery, mobile app could automatically send patient an e-card with get well messages.
   8. Patient Entertainment: App could provide lists of entertainment (ex. TV shows, games, etc.) that patient could access at hospital if staying overnight.
   9. Food Delivery: App could provide menu for hospital and nearby restaurants for food delivery if staying overnight. If patient has special allergies or dietary restrictions for surgery, patient could filter and see options that meet their needs.
   10. Payment Plans: App could help patients with payment plans (ex. loans, split payments / installments, etc.) to help pay large medical expenses.
   11. Generic Brands: App could provide patient a list of generic drug brands that match expensive options.
7. PRIORITIZE SOLUTIONS: 

   1. Solution	Impact to Patient Engagement	Cost
      Online Calendar	High	Low
      Hospital Connections	High	Low
      911 Button	Medium	Low
      Insurance Filter	High	Low
      ER Times	High	Medium
      Exposure Notification	Medium	Medium
      Patient E Card	Low	Low
      Patient Entertainment	Low	Low
      Food Delivery	Low	Medium
      Payment Plan	High	Low
      Generic Brand	Medium	Low

8. CHOOSE FEATURES: Based on the prioritization, I’d select the following features for the MVP launch of a mobile app that pulls data across multiple hospitals.
   1. Online Calendar: App has an online calendar that pulls data for individual hospitals and all available appointments. Patient can sort by doctor or specialty, location etc. and book appointments as needed.
   2. Hospital Connections: App pulls data from all neighboring hospitals and makes note where hospitals may have partnerships with one another. For example, certain hospitals may multiple locations. Patient can also look for specialties across all hospitals to find a doctor that suits their needs. For example, a patient may filter for an allergist that specializes in food allergies and can pull a list of all allergists across multiple hospitals.
   3. Insurance Filter: Patient can also see lists of hospitals and doctors and see where their insurance is taken / understand what the general cost of their visit would be. Patient also can filter for low cost options if they do not have insurance.
   4. Payment Plan: Patient has the ability to pay for hospital visits (across any hospital) in this app – i.e. one spot to pay for all hospital bills. Patient sees options for special payment plans if their bills are large: ex. 2 installments, 10% discount, loan, credit, etc. (Would need to run risk assessments on patients potentially / their financial background. May want to add qualifying factors for payment plans or allow for only very simple payment plans of 3 installments at full price for example.)
9. METRICS:
   1. # of patients who download app
   2. # of patients who use app (login at least 1x / month)
   3. % change in patient logins month to month
   4. # or % of patients who book appointments
   5. # or % of patients who make payment or use a payment plan
10. LIMITATIONS:
    1. App likely skews towards younger demographic. Patient must have a smart phone / be tech savvy.
    2. Patients with disabilities may not find app as useful – ex. blind patient. (Can build more inclusively to account for popular disabilities.)
    3. Each hospital may have different booking systems, etc. May be difficult to source data from every single local hospital. Bigger chain hospitals may use similar technology – ex. MyChart.
    4. Assumes we can build on Android and iOS.