Transforming chronic condition care through personalized support

Summary

Contributor to all phases of product design, supporting discovery and definition, and leading development and delivery. Scope of work varied from North Star vision to product features.

Launched the Health Tracker app using a minimal viable product (MVP) strategy, starting with essential diabetic management features and adding enhancements over subsequent phases.

Expanded the function of Health Tracker to include chronic kidney disease management features, laying the groundwork for a more comprehensive chronic condition product.

Created iOS design library, unifying components, styles, grids, typography, and iconography, improving design delivery efficiency at team and enterprise system levels.

Overview

As of 2020, about thirty-four million Americans had been diagnosed with diabetes. While effectively managing this chronic condition is critical to help patients avoid costly adverse events and complications, it can be challenging.

Type 2 diabetic patients spend over $16,000 annually on healthcare, with costs 2.3 times higher than non-diabetics. Despite these expenses, 70% still struggle to control their blood sugar levels over time. Traditional diabetes care programs focus narrowly on blood sugar control and medication adherence, missing comprehensive management opportunities. As a product design team, we aimed to offer Aetna members a personalized, insights-driven solution to simplify care and improve outcomes.

We consulted business partners, clinical experts, and patients to understand how a new digital product could stand out in the crowded market of diabetes management apps and provide the most value. By using individualized data—such as medical and pharmacy claims, lab work, and biometric information—alongside traditional management tools, we created a personalized experience that prioritizes the most impactful intervention: the next best action for improving blood sugar levels over time and reducing medical costs.

As a multi-disciplinary design team, we developed a native iOS and Android mobile app from the ground up, focusing on:

Key features

I played a key role in developing core features for the Health Tracker app by focusing on a user-centered approach. I prioritized understanding user needs to inform how I would address business challenges, ensuring that the solutions aligned with both user expectations and company goals. This approach led to a product that was impactful and scalable.

Closing diabetic care gaps

Business need

We needed to provide members more comprehensive support and guidance to increase screening adherence among the ~50% of at-risk diabetic patients who currently do not receive recommended care gap screenings.

Goal

Design a solution powered by individualized data—such as medical claims, lab work, and biometric info—to create a personalized experience that prioritizes the next best action and most impactful intervention a member can take.

Role

I led iOS design, supported Scott with user flows, design reviews and collaborated with the product and engineering teams.

Results

Improving communication with secure chat

Business need

We needed to simplify the patient-provider communication process and offer a more accessible, convenient alternative for patients to comfortably ask important non-emergency diabetes care questions.

Goal

Create a secure, user-friendly chat tool that allows patients to easily message their Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist nurse and receive reliable information, helping them adhere to their treatment and healthy habits.

Role

I led design, collaborating with engineering, product, and business partners to develop an implementation strategy. I worked with third-party vendor, LivePerson, to integrate their conversational software into our product.

Results

Simplifying health tracking for patients

Business need

We discovered that members faced too many friction points with manual entry and experienced difficulty differentiating readings when using other diabetes apps, resulting in inconsistent and ineffective blood sugar tracking.

Goal

Create an easy-to-use interface that seamlessly pairs and syncs data from Bluetooth-enabled medical devices. Ensure blood sugar values are clearly displayed for users of all tech levels to easily understand and identify problems.

Role

I led iOS design, supported Scott with UX, assisted Tyler with user research and A/B testing, and collaborated with product and engineering teams.

Results

Strengthening education with learning modules

Business need

There is a need for a scalable solution that enables clinicians to educate more patients on their home dialysis device, verify knowledge retention, and provide patients with easy access to refresh their understanding of dialysis therapy.

Goal

Improve patient accessibility to critical home dialysis training information and expand clinician outreach by enabling the assignment of on-demand, interactive learning modules.

Personal challenge

I optimized the eLearning interface so nurses could easily assign single lessons, multiple lessons, or entire courses (comprised of lessons) to their patients.

This involved carefully balancing lesson categorization to avoid overwhelming users while ensuring content was easy to find. My goal was to streamline the assignment process while maintaining clarity and usability for patients.

Results

iOS Design System and Library

Business need

The Health Tracker design team frequently outpaced the enterprise design system (EDS) team, requiring native app components and assets that were not yet available, which led to delays and reduced our overall efficiency.

Goal

Develop a comprehensive design system for Health Tracker that unifies components, styles, grids, typography, and usage guidelines to enhance design delivery speed.

Role

I led iOS design, established the framework (including web and Android), shared best practices, and collaborated with other designers and engineers to integrate these components at an enterprise level.

Results