I informed early product direction for Product Plan Management app that would manage health plan and benefit data and streamline plan configuration
Industry
Healthcare
Role
Experience Strategist
Responsibilities
User Research
Story Map Workshop Facilitation
Concept Testing
Overview
Context
A Fortune500 healthcare organization needed a Product Plan Management Platform that not only managed product plans but configured health benefits products and offerings that were submitted for government approval. The long term goal was to build an internal platform that allowed the organization to scale and meet the growing demands of the business to move into more markets faster.
The internal stakeholders used a variety of systems and data sources to manage and configure health insurance plans. The current process was manual, timely, and error-prone. The client needed a platform that streamlined the way the data moved through its system and a more usable application that reduced errors and improved operational efficiency across teams.
User Groups
At the time of the project, my team worked with three key stakeholder teams–the product development team, regulatory operation teams, and the product administration team. Each team has specific functions when it comes to filing preparation process.
The product development team created benefit products, the regulatory operations team enforced government regulations around those benefits, and the product administration team finalized plans and interfaced with the government.
Proof of Concept (PoC)
My team designed and developed the PoC of an internal Benefit Plan Management and Configuration web application that would be the foundation of clean benefits and provider data across the client’s ecosystem. This web app allowed teams to view and manage benefits in a consolidated location and streamlined bid filing and documentation creation process.
Early discovery revealed that users were navigating a fragmented ecosystem of tools with heavy manual workaround, leading to duplicated efforts, inconsistent data, and ongoing reconcilliation between teams.
3,500+
Increased visibility of 3,500+ Health Plan and Benefit Data
Days rather than weeks
Optimized Plan Configuration Proccess takes days rather than weeks
30%
Streamlined workflows and improved process efficiency by 30%
Increased Visibility of 3,500+ Health Plan and Benefit Data
One consolidated location that connected products, benefits, and provider data for 3,500+ health plans. The internal application would function as single source of truth to eliminate the need for multiple spreadsheets to manage product plan benefit data, which is leading to data redundancy and creating disconnected manual process.
Optimized Plan Configuration Proccess takes days rather than weeks
Bulk editing features enabled easy editing on all variation of plans during the product plan configuration process. The current configuration process edited plans individually, leading to a manual, outdated, and error-prone beneft prodution configuration. The ability to create variations of plans in bulk rather than at an individual level would reduce the product plan configuration timline to days rather than weeks.
Streamlined workflows and improved process efficiency by 30%
Document generation capabilities and automated QA tools would streamline workflows and improve process efficiency by 30%. Auto-generate documents on benefit plan details and related documentation would leverage single source of truth, and QA tools would reduce manual review efforts. This would not only help teams achieve production timeline but also enable cross-department collaborations, during the review cycle improving data consistency across all touchpoints by using a single source of truth and centralize workflow for reviews and approvals.
The Approach
My Role
As the Experience Strategist, I led discovery efforts to inform the early product direction for the application that would manage health benefit offerings. I conducted user interviews, facilitated a three-day story mapping workshop, crafted research artifacts, and delivered a mid-fidelity wireframe throughout the engagement. My discovery work defined and shaped future recommendations and product decisions.
Project Outcomes
Understand Current Journeys To Move Towards The Future
I mapped current state journeys, workflows, and tool handoffs of the bid filing preparation process. Partnering closely with stakeholders, I focused on understanding the roles, workflows, and decisions points at the very beginning of the process, where plan configurations first take shape. The current state highlighted how data moved between systems and where friction, rework, or confusion occurred. The future process would remove gatekeepers and minimize proccess inefficencies.
Story Mapping Towards a Product Vision and Prioritized Feature Backlog
I facilitated a three-day story mapping workshop with product managers, SMEs and project teams to translate research findings into opportunities and strategic decision. Coming out of the workshop, we aligned on a product vision, defined the high-level features, and aligned on MVP scope for this internal application.
Concept Testing Feedback Guided Early Product Direction
I created and tested initial concept designs with potential users to guide the early platform structure and content direction. Thanks to a close developer collaboration, the prototype and the prioritized backlog was used by the developers to base their PoC from.
Sample Work
Final Thought
Project Handoff & Reflection
My development team and I delivered a PoC of a Benefit Plan Management and Configuration web app that would allow teams to view and manage benefit data in a consolidated location that would connect product, benefits, and provder data across the organization's ecosystem and streamline the bid filiing process with MVP features such as bulk editing of product plans.
In addition, we aligned on prioritized capabilities and backlog items that were grounded by real user needs. By making complex workflows visible and human-centered, it enabled the client to align on where experience improvements would have the greatest impact and ensure solutions aligned to how the bid preparation work actually gets done across teams.
My Impact
Make It Actionable And Human-Centered
I helped reduce downstream risk by validating user needs early and creating strong research foundation for product strategy and development decisions. Early discovery plated a critical role in making research actionable and human-centered, ensured future recommendations were informed by real workflows rather than assumptions.
Be A Strategic Partner
I enabled client and teams focus on the right problems, transforming my role from "pixel pusher" to strategic partner. I utilized storymapping workshop and stakeholder feedback to bridge between user needs and business goals to drive business value and advocate for user needs.
