For approximately 18 months, I consulted with Providence to help create better experiences on the web and bring in the best possible personal health record to meet the needs of their patients. 

Services

Provider Research

Opportunity: The motivations for use and barriers to entry with, computers, mobile, Providence web site. Understand context of use. 

Process: Visit providers in clinic, conduct 1:1 interviews. 

Outcomes:  Doctors  are very research focused, rely on office staff for task oriented work clinical content is not an important part of this site. Providers don't use the web site, their staff do. 

PHRs

Opportunity: Providence was considering 3 vendors to supply a personal health record. This research was to understand current tracking processes and uncover which vendor had the most acceptable interface . 

Process: As homework, participants were asked to bring in their current billing and health tracking methods. After these were reviewed, participants viewed 3 UIs in random order and shared feedback. 

Outcomes: Individuals were interested in a PHR, but mostly if the doctor populated the site. Although less visually appealing, a spreadsheet UI was most popular since it closely mimicked existing practices. 

www.co.marin.ca.us

Medicare Usability

Opportunity: Better understand Medicare members, their use of technology and their feedback on the website. 

Process: 10 Medicare members were brought in for traditional 1:1 usability testing on a computer. 

Outcomes: Learned about general focus on wellness and quality of life at this age. Participants preferred phone to computer and expected searches as good as Google to locate information on site.