Care Business - Problem Solving
Vida Care was a project where I led a design team from late 2016 to early 2019. Vida is revolutionising the care industry by incorporating technology in care delivery.
The project developed into 3 different products - BackOffice, Mobile App and Client Portal. I have owned all design stages from research through journey mapping, user flows, wireframing, prototyping to visual design. Conducted user testing sessions and worked closely with developers to ensure every release was a true representation of the product work.
These were some of the business problems we faced and some of the solutions we came across.
Carers Missing Scheduled Visits Without Any Notice
Carers justify this by saying that they forgot about their scheduling. This is reasonable when the tool that they were using has numerous faults: Bad UX, bad UI, no in-app notifications and no automatic synchronisation of their visit changes. This behaviour is the most armful within the business. Vulnerable people are often left alone and without any support.
Solution - Notify carers about their visits
I’ve created the a spec book to be used by the developers, to define all the actions needed across all the events within the platform. In some cases I drew flow diagrams to better explain the impact of each action.
Example of a flow diagram with the requirements to send the notifications to the carers. At the beginning of the project all the notifications were sent via SMS and Email, until the in-app notifications were built.
In this scenario I found it helpful to get a visual representation of the week to explain the impact of the weekend when sending carers their visit reminders.
Mobile notifications spec table.
Solution - Matching Algorithm with relevant data
By offering shifts closer to the carers location and with someone that they’ve previously provided care for, chances are that they’ll be more committed to that shift. We’ve found a way to include in the Matching Algorithm , the carers location (from home / from previous visit / to next visit) and if they’ve provided care to the client before.
This and other information are fully documented and is being used to submit a Patent request regarding the Matching Algorithm.
Hard requirements and soft requirements definition.
Example of a layout where the Matching Algorithm is being used.
Lack Of Qualified Carers
There are a few nursing students onboard but most of the carers have no formal qualification. This creates a motivation issue due to the lack of career progression.
Solution: Gamification
The idea is to reward ´good carers´ and penalise carers with less than optimal behaviour. Based in ´good behaviour´ targets, there will be points given to certain actions. There will be levels that when reached will give access to Training and Certification.
Each action will have a different impact in the final score.
Example of a motivational email sent to carers with information about points earned or taken.
Difficulty To Track Clients Health Progression
With a lot of clients having 2 or more carers assisting them and without a tool to track their health, it’s very hard to get a daily report of their progress, unless there is a good or bad occurrence.
Solution: Mandatory notes about the client’s health
After each visit, the carer has to go through a in app survey to provide updated information about the clients health. This information will automatically be displayed in the BackOffice - ( client profile), in the App - ( Carers Notes) and, depending on the type of note, in the Client Portal - ( Visit Details).
Example of a brainstorm in a white board to tackle the requirements / problems.
Flow diagram representing the checkout process and other screen actions on mobile.
Mandatory visit notes.
BackOffice tool used by the care team to monitor the client’s health, mood, concern reports and incident reports.
Poor And Disjoined Logistics
We discovered that our competition needed to rely on multiple tools to be able to cope with assessments, visit scheduling, finance and client enquires.
Solution: Centralised BackOffice to feed the mobile app and the client portal
The BackOffice has the ability to gather and deliver all the information needed during the different onboarding phases of both the clients and carers.
It all starts with a Care Request by either a private client or an organisation.
A scheduled Assessment will be preformed to determine the client’s condition and his care needs.
If the company is able to address the client’s needs a client profile will be created, with all the information required to provide the best possible care.
Example of a enquire form and the client profile details in the BackOffice
Assessment form, inside the BackOffice.
View of the client details in the Client Portal.
Behaviour problems
The most used care platform gave the carers the possibility to checkin and checkout without time restrictions. This goes against CQC regulations to provide good care.
Carers swapping shifts between them without authorisation.
Being frequently late
Solution: Time And Location Restrictions When Checking-in.
Certain actions in the app are available based in the visit scheduled time. In case of checking in too late or checking out either too early or too late, the carer will have to provide valid reasons. This will be, later on, considered in their payment.
Flow diagram defining when certain actions will be available to the carer.
Mobile App screen showing quick access to the main actions.
Checkout process with are incomplete tasks + late checkout.
Analytic report about the deviation between checkin and checkout times and explanatory comments.
Solution: Carers Training Sessions
Our platform introduced new routines and rules based on time and location. This new approach required an introduction to the new app with training sessions.
Carers can check-in only when at the client’s address and at the scheduled time.
Carers can check-out without explanation at the end time of the visit.
Finance - Handling Payments & Finances
With the previous platform, and because the carers had no time restrictions, the reconciliation required the team to confirm with the clients all the visits.
Solution: Preauthorise visits which times match with the scheduling to be send to finance.
If the carer checks-in and checks out on the scheduled time, their payment will match the agreed with the client - Visit is ready to be sent to finance
If the carer checks-in and / or checks out outside of the scheduled time, the visit requires the team to verify the reason and check with the client if the payment should be different or not.
Billing - Pending visits screen
Billing - Visit Details
Results
Comparison with the most used Care Platform in the 1st month after the launch:
A 76% reduction in shifts lateness
A 50% improvement in time saved on Invoices
A 32% improvement in time saved on carer payments
Monitor client’s health condition report: 86% Same, 10% Better, 4% Worst