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Brief
Can you imagine a world where accessing healthcare is as easy as ordering from Amazon, with upfront insurance-based purchasing and booking?
Duration
5 Weeks
Team
Head of Engineering
Head of Growth
Head of Finanace
Roles played
Product Management
Product Strategist
Project Lead
UX/UI Designer
Systems Designer
UX Research
Content Strategist
TLDR;
Designed and launched a Shopify-style marketplace for healthcare services in just 5 weeks, letting patients browse and book medical treatments as easily as they shop online. The platform went from concept to two practices, with our pilot location seeing a 175% increase in direct purchases and bookings.
Overview
Executing an aggressive five-week timeline for a project typically scoped for 6-12 months of development, I led the strategy and design of a white-label marketplace for a healthcare startup, wearing multiple hats as Product Manager, UX Researcher, and sole Designer.
The goal was to create a Shopify-esque platform that would revolutionize how patients access, purchase and book healthcare services, from routine check-ups to specialized surgeries. I had to create an extensible, user-friendly interface that could accommodate a vast array of medical practices and treatment types, all while integrating complex insurance-based pricing and meeting HIPAA specifications.
This meant designing the extensible shopping interface, varying product pages, insurance connection and booking, while also defining product requirements, conducting user research, and managing the development process—all within the tight timeline.
The Challenge
The project presented a unique set of challenges that tested my ability to innovate under pressure.
We had to adapt e-commerce conventions to an unfamiliar healthcare context and accommodate diverse practice types, treatment options and branding within a single, cohesive white-label platform—all within a tight 5-week timeframe, alongside active development. These constraints demanded rapid innovation, strategic thinking, and a deep commitment to user-centered design principles.
Approach and Process
Rapid Knowledge Acquisition and Strategic Planning
My approach began with rapid knowledge acquisition and strategic planning. Recognizing the complexity of the healthcare industry, I immersed myself in extensive research, studying healthcare billing systems, insurance models, and treatment types across various medical specialties.
This rapid knowledge acquisition proved crucial in developing a nuanced understanding of both provider needs and patient priorities in healthcare transactions.
To develop a solid, buildable foundation, I pioneered the creation of comprehensive product specifications, working closely with the Head of Engineering to ensure technical feasibility.
Recognizing the need for structured medical service data, I proposed and spearheaded the creation of a comprehensive treatment database. I collaborated with Growth and Operations teams to implement this system, ensuring we could accurately categorize and present healthcare services while building for future scalability.
I developed detailed user journeys and app maps visualizing the complex pathways users might take through the platform including insurance states, payment states and purchasing rules, providing valuable insights to all teams involved.
I also identified and mapped all aspects treatment product pages to ensure the structure would be able to take on all variations of treatment information for more straightforward development.
User-Centric Design in a Complex Domain
Changing Six Leaps to One Step
Understanding that users would approach the platform with varying levels of healthcare knowledge, I advocated for and designed:
Clear information hierarchies for diverse treatment types
Simplified insurance integration flows
Educational content to support decision-making
Step-by-step guidance for complex processes
While I proposed a more guided approach to help users understand their care needs before entering the marketplace, stakeholder preferences and tight timeline led to a more direct e-commerce model. I adapted by:
Incorporating clear service descriptions and prerequisites
Adding contextual help throughout the booking process
Designing flexible, extensible information architecture to support future iterations and varying content
Creating detailed documentation of potential user confusion points for future improvements
Rapid Prototyping and Iterative Design
In the first week alone, I created over 20 low-fidelity wireframes to rapidly ideate on different marketplace layouts and user flows. This was followed by mid-fidelity prototypes testing key user journeys and high-fidelity, interactive prototypes for stakeholder reviews and preliminary testing (unfortunately not shown here due to partner sharing constraints).
Key prototypes explored practice storefront layouts, mobile buying mechanisms, insurance integration flows, and booking.
Data-Driven Design and User Research
With timeline constraints, I turned to many leading journals in UX research, such as the Neilson Norman group to examine existing data on online shopping experiences. Additionally, we conducted focused user research:
Pre-launch provider and administrator interviews to understand workflow needs
Shadowing of 5 practices
Post-launch patient feedback sessions
A/B testing of critical user flows
Continuous monitoring of user behavior patterns through data dog
Agile Collaboration and Iterative Development
Working in a startup environment required exceptional adaptability and collaboration. I worked hand-in-hand with the development team, providing designs in real-time as they built the platform and ensuring extensibility in the build and treatment organization with the Head of Engineering. This parallel process demanded:
Rapid iteration and problem-solving as technical constraints emerged
Clear, constant communication with cross-functional teams
Flexibility to refine and adapt designs based on ongoing feedback and development progress
Additionally, I worked closely with the Head of Growth and Head of Finance on both partner and business strategy, while meeting consistently with stakeholders.
By maintaining an agile, collaborative approach, we were able to overcome numerous obstacles and keep the project on track despite the tight timeline.
Outcomes and Impact
The project successfully launched within the prescribed timeline, delivering:
A HIPAA-compliant marketplace platform
Secure insurance integration
175% increase in direct bookings at pilot location
Flexible design system for future scaling
Challenges and Insights
Early in the project, I anticipated that users might be confused about purchasing healthcare services through an e-commerce platform and that insurance integration would be a significant usability and learning challenge.
These concerns proved valid in our post-launch research, where users expressed initial hesitation about purchasing healthcare services online, and found the insurance integration and purchasing process confusing.
Given our 5-week sprint timeline, I had to make strategic decisions about what we could feasibly implement while still delivering a functional product. I would love to pursue a more guided approach in the future—helping users understand what care they needed before presenting them with a marketplace—would ultimately provide a better user experience, we had to focus on creating the best possible solution within our immediate constraints.
For the Future
Based on our learnings and my initial concerns, I developed several proposals for future improvements.
The most significant would be implementing a guided discovery approach, where users are led through a series of questions to help them understand their care needs before entering the marketplace environment.
This would help address the hesitation around online healthcare purchasing by creating a more familiar, medical-focused entry point.
Additional proposed improvements include:
A comprehensive UI refresh focusing on clarity and trust-building elements and delight in the experience
Creating a more intuitive, step-by-step flow for insurance integration
Developing a concern-based user journey to better guide users through the healthcare shopping process
Implementing clearer communication about platform capabilities
Developing an onboarding flow to educate first-time users about the benefits and security of online healthcare booking
Creating more detailed provider profiles with credentials and patient reviews
Implementing a more flexible backend for providers to customize their service listings
Full account management and creation across all practices that ingrate with the product
Finally,
This project demonstrated my ability to navigate complex requirements while maintaining user-centered design principles.
Despite aggressive timelines and competing priorities, I successfully delivered a secure, compliant platform that balanced stakeholder requirements with user needs. The experience highlighted my capacity to advocate for user needs while adapting to business constraints, resulting in a solution that laid the groundwork for future improvements in healthcare access.
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