Project Overview:
In the past decade, to address affordability and consumer preferences, healthcare systems have progressively moved the site of care away from high cost facilities such as hospitals and medical office buildings to a more convenient and cost-effective setting, Telemedicine.
Kaiser Permanente has been investing in telehealth, resulting in a steady increase in the use of telehealth. There are 39 medical centers in California and more medical office buildings across the US. The organization’s blueprint is to reduce capital plan expense on facilities and increase innovation on digital platform experience, ultimately reducing carbon footprint of buildings, green house emissions from visiting facilities and to make healthcare more efficient and affordable for everyone.
COVID-19
COVID-19 has accelerated the process, as it puts pressure on current telehealth services to be rapidly scaled to meet the rising demand. During the surge, most patients were directed to use Telehealth. The demographic expanded to all age groups with different backgrounds and health conditions. The adaptability towards new care delivery method varies and it pushes a lot of patients out of comfort zone. The efficiency of using the scaled telehealth was not seen improved for both patients and doctors, which reveals that current system has areas to be improved.
On the other hand, a lot of doctors don’t to go to medical offices and work from home, which leads to the vacancy of exam rooms. As the trend of Telehealth prevails, the team wants to take an innovative approach to integrate future Kaiser Permanente facilities development and Telehealth.
Kaiser's current care model
Currently Kaiser Permanente provides a few Tele-counseling options for members to access care, while In-Person Visit remains to be one the most important method.
So the percentage is all above 50%, which seems great. But when more and more users choose Telehealth,
How might we make Telehealth platform more clear and more personalized?
How might we redesign future clinical spaces to increase efficiency when it’s necessary to go?
How might we provide seamless experience to deliver the best care for patient care?
Painpoints
The website provides a lot of information that is redundant and not personalized.
Kaiser Permanente offers multiple ways of getting care, which seems easy for users to access but sometimes it is confusing, not enough guidance is provided.
When memebers need to go to a facility for in-person visit or for small tasks such as blooddraw or getting vaccines, Sometimes it takes a few hours, the efficiency is low.
Interview Process and Design Charatte
The team interviewed a few stakeholders within Kaiser Permanente, they includes:
MDs, Nurses
National Clinical Facilities Care Delivery Technology Team
Strategic Planning and Business Development Team
Capital Project Delivery
Real Estate
IT Consultants
What could be done with our websites and Apps, even Medical office buildings and Hospitals?
We went through a few rounds of sketchups and brainstorming ...
All our ideas based on the pain points and interviews are categories as below:
Solution 1: Design a homepage that's personalized
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Solution 2: Smart Appointment System
To get care, whether it's a regular appointment or occasions that need more guidance, members click 'Get care' option on the home page. A self-guide appointment system shows up on the screen.
This is an example of a regular appointment page.
However, when more urgent occasions happen, the smart appointment system will help users sigfinicantly.
1. Taylor returns from Paris and he feels the pain in his chest so he wants to make an appointment with his doctor.
2. He checks the availablity of his doctor and it turns out he can only get to see him this Friday.
3. However, the pain gets unbearable on Wednesday night and he doesn’t want to go to emergency care.
4. He goes to KP website and uses the smart appointment system. The system recommends a way of getting care and sends out his request.
5. A doctor sees the patient’s request and also notices his location is closer to the patient. He roughly chats with the patient.
6. The decided to meet at an exam pod that’s closer to both so he can check on him.
7. The check in process is easy and both of them arrive at similar time. The doctor does an exam on him and prescribes some medicine that will be delievered within an hour.
8. They continue to check in online through messages and Taylor is happy that he has everything he needed on the website.
Once the request has been sent, the system notifies the doctors that are available, at the same time, all the exam Pods show up on the map indicating the closest.
Yes! Taylor gets connected with a doctor that is available at the moment.
The integration of App and website provides a cohesive experience
when it’s getting close to 11:00am
Here we are, it takes less than 10 mins to get to the Exam Pod!
The kiosk screen identify the person and welcome Taylor to scan the code to check in.
Solution 3: 'Meet me at the exam pod'
So what is an exam pod? How does it play an important role in the seamless experience for patients? Currently Kaiser has medical office buildings and medical centers that are large scale service which sometimes can be far from a lot of memebers. The idea of exam pod is a 'micro-clinic', a full-service familu practice clinic, providing basic primary care with flexible and lean space. It can be located in a highly visible strip mall or inside an office building, or it could even be its stand alone structure.
We looked at the legacy exam rooms across all regions within Kaiser Permanete and also the new 110 sq ft standard. How much space is needed for the exam pod?
We labed the ground using the interval of 6”, the standard exam room is 10 ft x 11ft. How small can the exam pod be to both be functional and comfortable?
We invited the doctors to evaluate the space and we went a few scenarios to evaluate the space.
After the input from the doctors and mock up scenarios, my Team and I brainstormed and developed 3 scenatios:
a. Meet up with the doctors for an exam
b. Virtual Care in exam Pod for Less tech savvy patients
c. Specimen collection
Idealization
Taylor arrives at the exam pod and the QR code is ready for him to scan.
He is happy to see the Welcome message on the screen upon getting in. Taylor steps on a scale/body scanner that wirelessly uploads the data to the KP App and is now showing up on the screen.
Doctor Arrives at the Pod and all the record are now showing on the bigger screen in the exam side of the room. Dr. Smith reviews it and soon begins the exam process.
The prescription is ordered on the screen and confimation is sent to tha app or the email. Taylor can pick it up or get it delievered.
An appointment QR code is sent to Taylor’s phone and all pre-appointment registration and questionnaires are sent to him by email to be completed before the appointment.