Designing an Improved Healthcare Provider Finder Experience
Searching For a Better Way
Provider finders are an essential tool of the healthcare industry, offering patients access to thousands of doctors, specialists, clinics, and hospitals near them…
Yet these tools have remained largely unchanged for years.
Designed and built to query large databases, these tools still place a heavy burden on the site visitor to enter significant amounts of information and then sift through hundreds of results, resulting in decision paralysis.
How might we re-envision the provider finder experience to lessen the effort (and stress) of the patient, yet provide more personalized results?
Leverage AI to help identify the type of provider needed.
Reduce stress and confusion with an AI assistant that recommends the type of specialist based on a description of patient needs or symptoms.
- Request a short description of what they are seeking or experiencing.
- Analyze keywords in real time to identify a provider type recommendation.
Utilize known data points to refine results.
When logged into an insurance provider’s website, use data from the user’s policy to personalize the process and refine search results quickly and accurately.
- Pre-populate the names of covered family members.
- Default to the policy mailing address when determining distance.
Integrate 3rd party data to make it simple & personal.
Rather than solely delivering results based on proximity, consider additional travel requirements that could impact a provider selection.
- Ask if there are any specific travel considerations, like proximity to public transit or EV charging.
Continually update available results
As users provide information and step through the process, highlight the continually decreasing number of available results to demonstrate an increased level of confidence and a more tailored result.
Deliver a small set of highly relevant results.
Using the information provided by the user in combination with data already known, provide a smaller, more accurate set of results with a high degree of confidence.
- Select a single Best Match and reiterate why this provider was chosen.
- In addition, give the user a short list of other top matches to compare.
Improving the provider finder experience requires leveraging known data, personalization, and enhancing the user interface.
By addressing and incorporating user preferences, and providing real-time feedback, users can better navigate provider search tools and receive results more effectively.
With a simplified, friendlier process, users can feel empowered to make informed decisions about their healthcare.
At Viget, we’re continually thinking about how we can help shape and improve the experiences around us and make the world a better place — whether that’s through the technology solutions we deliver to our clients or through conceptual explorations.