Designing the future experience of complex care journeys
My Role
Senior Service DesignerThe Team
Cross-functional (service designers, business partners, clinical)Scope
Strategy, discovery research, concept development, design criteria, and service blueprintingOverview
In collaboration with a large health organization, I led research efforts to define the future-state experience of accessing care. The goal was to understand how to efficiently guide people to the care they need based on their situation, preferences, and health plan coverage.
We began with discovery work to uncover customers’ biggest challenges when navigating care, especially when experiencing uncertainty, new health concerns, or multiple needs at once. Our work involved qualitative research, use case development, and cross-functional alignment. From there, we tested and prioritized potential concepts, ultimately building a foundational blueprint for what a more intuitive, guided experience could look like.
Challenge
Customers often face disjointed and unclear pathways when trying to get care through their health plan. Whether seeking urgent help, planning wellness support, or managing chronic conditions.
We were tasked with imagining a better way to guide members—digitally and with human support—through their next step in care.
Approach
We led a multi-phase strategic effort, starting with foundational discovery and culminating in a fully developed service vision.
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Conducted in-depth interviews with 14 members to understand behaviors, motivations, and blockers when navigating care. We used a structured discussion guide to explore trust, decision-making, and system expectations.
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Mapped behaviors and needs across different care scenarios. Identified high-impact moments and segments based on current gaps, future opportunity, and alignment with system capabilities.
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Engaged stakeholders across clinical, product, operations, and tech to co-define constraints, enablers, and service goals.
Concept Development
We created and tested a set of service across a range of entry points (e.g. wellness enrollment, symptom support, digital triage). Each scenario was explored through customer-facing storyboards and ranked using relevance scales.
Through this process, we were able to:
Identify which scenarios resonated most across segments.
Understand expectations around support, guidance, and continuity.
Narrow down to a high-performing concept with strong user and business alignment.
This selected concept informed the foundation of our ideal future state service — outlining essential components required for a trustworthy and effective experience.
Outcome
The work helped cross-functional teams align on a shared experience vision and understand what success looks like at each stage of a customer’s journey. The design criteria and blueprint continue to inform experience planning, vendor conversations, and pilot development—helping to ensure that future solutions remain grounded in human needs, system feasibility, and long-term strategic goals.
My Contributions
Led qualitative research efforts.
Defined and documented service expectations across touchpoints, channels, and organizational roles.
Developed design criteria to guide teams in making experience-aligned decisions
Created a future-state service blueprint to visualize how care guidance and support could unfold over time.
Collaborated with cross-functional partners to ensure feasibility, clarity, and continuity across the experience.
Supported leadership communication and alignment on the recommended direction.