Expanding Access on DocSquad

Adding features to use DocSquad without insurance and to get care for minors

My Role

UX Design

Company

Bright Health Group

Overview

DocSquad is a telehealth app that allows patients to complete synchronous or asynchronous visits to get virtual healthcare. We added two core features as we got the app up and running: the ability to use our app without the need for health insurance, and the ability to get care for minors.

The Goal

Build out features to expand who can access care.

Dependents

The Problem

TL;DR - Care was not available to people under 18

Only Bright HealthCare insurance members who were 18 years or older could get care on DocSquad. Backed up by our team's research, we knew there was demand for users to be able to get care for their children.

We found that between 10-15% of calls to customer support were oriented around troubleshooting or requesting care for users under the age of 18.
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We knew we needed to allow parents and legal guardians to get care for their children by simply adding them to their account. Doing so would get users the care that they need without needing to schedule an appointment, take time off work, or pull their kids out of school, while also reducing customer support inquiries and increasing visit volume for DocSquad.

The Solution

Select a patient when starting a visit

Our initial user flows mapped out how we might add a dependent via the account tab and when starting a visit. After some iterations, we felt that including the option to "Get care for someone else" on the How it Works screen was not visible enough and did not do a sufficient job at explaining who could be a dependent.

We decided to put both the primary account holder and their dependents on the same patient selection screen, highlighting the capabilities of adding a dependent while reducing friction by defaulting to the primary account holder. When adding a dependent in the visit flow, we added an age selection with dynamic text that explains that adults must create their own account if the "An adult" option is selected. This also prompts them with a share sheet to share a DocSquad link to continue to grow our user base.

In our final iteration, adding a dependent can be completed as a user is starting a visit, or via the account tab where users also have the ability to edit details about their dependents, just as they can edit details about their own profile.

Cash Pay

The Problem

Only Bright HealthCare members could use the app

Only Bright HealthCare (BHC) insurance members could use DocSquad, which was cutting out a large segment of potential users and not allowing for growth outside of BHC. Letting other users access DocSquad and pay for their visits out of pocket with "cash" (Cash Pay) is a viable option since our virtual visits are easy and affordable.

To better understand healthcare challenges, our research team conducted 14 generative interviews and identified a number of pain points. The sentiments of the participants were grouped by severity and the three most critical themes were:

Healthcare costs are unknowable
Insurance dictates my care choices
Why can't I just talk with my doctor?

Participants expressed that there were times when they had a concern that would benefit from immediate contact with their doctor but not necessitate an appointment, and that there were times when they would defer care because the pricing complexity was not worth the hassle.

Informed by our research we knew that allowing any user access to quick virtual care, regardless of their health insurance, would need to become a core feature of DocSquad, and transparent pricing throughout was an absolute must.

The Solution

Add profile creation and allow other insurance members to pay out-of-pocket

We built out features to allow anyone to get care on DocSquad at a low cost. This included revamping the onboarding process, adding insurance selection to the account, and displaying cost more prominently since it would no longer be free for all users (previously Bright HealthCare members were the only ones using the app and their visits were covered 100% by their insurance).
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Allowing users to access care on DocSquad via Cash Pay, rather than checking eligibility and filing claims to an insurance provider, made it easier for any consumer to try out DocSquad. Although BHC members only had access to our asynchronous Online Interviews, introducing cash pay users also opened up the opportunity for them to complete synchronous visits with a varied pricing structure.

We placed the insurance selection into two areas in the app: one in the onboarding flow and one in the account tab. During onboarding, users can select their insurance and will be routed appropriately to either link their insurance if they have a preferred insurance, or to create their Cash Pay profile. Separating the insurance options in this way allowed us to set DocSquad up for the future if we were ever to partner with other insurances.

In the account tab, users can access the same list of insurances via the "Change insurance" item, and have the opportunity to link their preferred insurance at that point, if applicable. With the introduction of Cash Pay users, since their data would not be synced with their insurance, we also introduced a way for users to update their personal information such as their phone number or address.