The Goal

Mental and behavioral health therapy seems almost too intangible to quantify, track, and prove progress in. However several standardized tests can be used to measure a patient’s development over time. These tests are academically accepted. They use a series of feeling-based questions to gauge a patient’s relationship with their anxiety / depression. The results of this test are then quantified and can be tracked, to show a person’s overall mental health trajectory as they receive therapy.

DotCom Therapy wanted to start administering these tests in a non-invasive, and easy way, that ultimately created a habit on the patient’s side. The test needed to be easy to access, easy to answer, and quick to move through. In addition the results of these tests needed to be easy to read, downloadable, and viewing progress in the results was essential.

Mental health outcome tracking would help patients see their progress when it came to their therapy, and would allow them to check in with their mental health. It also helps therapists see their patient’s growth, and to tailor their sessions according to that growth. And ultimately, it would also help DCT show new clients, and their board, that therapy was helping their customer base.

We were tasked with getting already busy and skeptical patients to routinely take an assessment about their mental health, and display those results in a pleasing and informative way.

Proposed Solution

The first place we started was with our primary user group: the patient. Taking what is an academic, rigid, test and making it an easy pill to swallow was the biggest task. In order to do that we proposed creating a new notification for the patient that said an assessment was ready for them. We kept all the language inviting and friendly, called the survey’s ‘Check-Ins’ to reduce formality, and made the notification feel like a message was coming from their therapist, to build credibility.

While taking the test we made buttons big and easy to interact with, and showed them a progress bar which created transparency with the user. We peppered in encouraging copy that pushed them across the finish line, and at the end, a pop-up thanked them for their participation, assured them of the test’s privacy, and explained why we were administering it.

On the back end of the test, for therapists, we proposed a new tab on the patient’s page that displayed all of their results in a list form, and a line graph that showed development over time. We made sure each of the tests was downloadable as a PDF, and easy to read. In addition we devised a color coded ‘sticker’ system that showed the results of each test, at a glance. That way each test result could be easily identified when looking a patient’s chart / list.

All of this was done to show a patient’s progress over time, and to make their progress as a patient easy to read, so that trends became easily identifiable.

Our Process

Step 1: Discovery

Talk to patients and figure out where they are in their therapy journey, and what would their limits be when it came to assessments about their mental health. Also talk to therapists and identify how they’d like to view results of these tests. And finally do some market research and comp. analysis.

Our Users

Ideal User Flows

Low Fidelity Wireframes

Patient Check-In User Flow

Therapist Screens - Outcome Tracking

*Because of HIPAA compliance I am not permitted to show actual screengrabs of outcome tracking

Results

Since implementing mental health outcome tracking, we have seen the results we expected. Therapists have reported a greater insight into their patient’s off-camera development, and are able to better mold their therapy sessions. A few have also sensed a feeling of greater presentness from their patients who are taking the check-ins seriously. Patients we talked to also felt more in touch with their therapy journey by having another check-in with themselves. DCT has been using this feature to leverage larger business deals because it also shows potential clients quantitative proof of their therapy at work.

This project taught me how to stretch my limits as a designer, and that the answer is always within the problem. We were solving for two different user groups, and business goals that had great implications. To pull this off, I was juggling different expectations multiple different groups and managing all of this became very stressful. And when it felt like I was going to crumble under the mounting pressure, I just decided to table the work I had done, and start over. I dove back into discovery, re-interviewed the original sample groups, and found that the answers I was searching for were simpler than I thought.

It was incredibly satisfying to see this project help people and have a positive impact on their mental health. That’s something I’ll treasure.

Pain Points

Each of the 100+ therapists that work at DotCom Therapy are required to submit their hours, processes, and activities. These time sheets get matched against what school districts and hospitals pay for, and are used to ensure DCT is fulfilling their contract, and getting paid.

Unfortunately time tracking was being held on an outdated 3rd party platform. The clunky software required therapists to open a new window, enter all their hours for the week in an un-intuitive software, in hopes that it worked right / didn’t crash.

Along with therapists, their regional managers need to view timesheets and assess them against the goals set by the school districts and hospitals. And the old system provided no way for admins to view data as a group. Admins were often looking at individual therapists at a time, and doing math on paper to ensure that goals were being met and reported accurately.

In essence the old system was archaic, hard to use, had problems with saving correctly, and provided no transparency for admins to view metrics for multiple therapists.

Proposed Solution

The first thing we wanted to do was move time tracking to the in-house DCT platform, Zesh. Having it housed within internal software minimizes so many actions for the primary user, and also ties it to the same data base that therapists already use to set up appointments and manage their calendar. Rather than entering data into a time sheet, we could create a time tracking feature that simply pulls in data from the calendar, and allows therapists to just make sure everything looks accurate before hitting ‘Submit.’

This cuts down the time sheet entry process by roughly ten steps, and ensures less room for human error.

Also by having it in Zesh, we can customize the admin portion of time tracking and create an interface that helps admins look at their organization as a whole, look for discrepancies at a higher level, approve batched time sheets instead of individual time sheets, and simply increase their visibility and accuracy.

We set out to create a new workflow for therapists and regional admins that minimized effort. By consolidating steps, and data we could create interfaces that made time tracking the easiest part of our user’s day.

Our Process

Step 1: Identify the Issue

Talk to therapists and regional admins and figure out what exactly are the problems they encounter on a daily basis. What is their dream time tracking scenario. And also get in, and use their current time tracking feature, to identify problems they might not even see.

Our Users

Ideal User Flows

Low Fidelity Wireframes

High Fidelity Wireframes

*Because of HIPAA Compliance I am allowed to show actual screen-grabs of time sheets

Results

Since implementing time tracking as a feature therapists and regional admins have been incredibly vocal about the ease in their workflow. We also saw a reported 44% drop in time tracking errors in the first month alone. A stat like that has a ripple effect and this meant that districts were getting more accurate data, therapists were left with time to take care of the important things in their workday, and ultimately the patients at DCT were served with greater accuracy.

This project taught me about constraint. When starting this project my enthusiasm sent me down a path where my initial ideas included time tracking popups, unnecessary Ui elements, and designs that ultimately did not serve the primary function: simplifying an already simple task. When I looked at the core problem, and really stepped into the water, I began to understand the real mission of freeing up therapists, in order to perform better. To make their lives easier. And I feel like we did that.

The Goal

When insured patrons come in as new patients DotCom Therapy they often have prior authorizations that delineate how many sessions they’re covered for. This number tells DCT, and it’s therapist how many sessions their patient is allotted, which allows therapists to keep track of the patient’s progress, and tailor therapy according to that number. 

However as DCT signed new insurance contracts they didn’t have a place to store prior auth information for patients. So prior authorization info was floating around in several different excel sheets, and needed to be consolidated in one spot for each patient. This page needed to have all of a patient’s prior auths, have them displayed in a way that was readable at a glance, but also still house all of the important data associated with each prior auth. 

In addition the management of the several hundred incoming prior auths meant DCT needed a queue that handled these items. The queue would be managed by insurance admins who requested a clean view of all the prior auths that they would need to approve, deny, or get further clarification on. Their job often involves looking at a prior auth, reviewing the information, and calling the patient’s insurance to clarify information in order to make a decision. The admin queue needed to display a lot of information, while still retaining a sense of order and cleanliness. 

For both users we had the task of distilling a ton of information, making it look bite sized, and easy to parse through.

Proposed Solution

When it came to building patient prior auth pages, for therapists, we had a simple approach. Create a visually legible page that showed the user the lifespan of a patient’s prior auth, displayed the important information first, allowed the user to easily get extra info if needed, and also allowed the user to add new prior auths. We took inspiration from how credit score and insurance websites display statistics and metrics. 

The table for insurance admins was a little different. We wanted to create a clean table that allowed them to address prior auths as they came into DCT’s network. Having all of the information present, readable, with the ability to Copy + Paste was crucial. We set out to build something that made the mountain of data they handle, look manageable.

We set out to create an interface that was centered around swift, error-free, interaction which helped the user feel empowered to take on large sums of data at once.

Our Process

Step 1: Identify the Issue

We first learned the intricacies and legal barriers around prior auths. We then talked to therapists and insurance admins to figure out what their dream scenario is when dealing with prior auths. What would make their work flow easiest.

Our Users

Low Fidelity Wireframes

The Lifespan of a Prior Auth

*Because of HIPAA Compliance I am allowed to show actual screen-grabs of Prior Auth Pages

Insurance Admin Queue for Incoming Prior Auths

Results

Ever since prior auth tracking and eligibility queues have gone live our insurance team has reported a much more cohesive and uninterrupted workflow. Their team can tackle multiple insurance eligibility tasks at once and the table view allows them to know the exact number of cases on their plate. “The transparency and ease of use has been great. When we get through the queue together it feels like we collectively hit ‘Inbox 0’ and that just feels nice!”

Therapists have also gained transparency into their patients prior auth situation. Previously, when this data was not live, therapists were often guessing or asking patients who often were not aware of the answers either. But now therapists are able to craft sessions knowing how many sessions a patient will be with them for.

This project taught me about the wild west that is the world of insurance…and about patience. Often times I have a tendency to want to rush in, and tackle the problem right away, and usually I’m smart enough to do so. However I was out of my depth when it came to subject matter this time, and only through reading, learning from my users, and taking the time to do things the right way was I able to find a direction for this project. I enjoyed each of my failures during the course of this build, because in the end I feel like we delivered a good product and solved some problems for our teammates.

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THE HORIZON APP

Horizon is a scheduling and task manager app in its most essential description, and simply put, its job is to help its user get things done. However it was designed with a very specific user in mind. Horizon is scheduling made for anyone experiencing any type of mental illness or ailment.

It’s very baseline and simplistic features make it so that anyone can add activities and to-do items and go about checking them off while getting a scope for their short-term timeline. This is extremely vital because when battling depression, anxiety, etc. you often get bogged down in the long term while forgetting to take care of your short term deadlines and tasks. 

Everything about Horizon is made to help you overcome that. The colors are soft and gentle with splashes of bright spots to keep you calm and cheerful. The edges of most components are curved and pleasant. The ideal transitions of the app are soft and resemble the gentleness of water. If you tap the icon at the top, on any page, the app gives you a new message of encouragement that is updated daily. Use this when there’s nobody else around to talk you down, and you still have a list of things in that Activities tab. Everything in this app is designed to promote positivity- even the R in the logo is lifting the I up towards the light.

Horizon is for anyone that needs it. Keep doing your thing, one foot in front of the other, all with the horizon in mind. 

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THANKS!