NCQA
Evaluation and accreditation application for healthcare organizations
Duration
2015-2016
Type
#Healthcare, #CertificationApp
Responsibilities
personas, sitemaps, wire-framing, lo + high fidelity
What is NCQA?
The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) is an independent, non-profit organization in the United States that focuses on improving the quality of healthcare. NCQA evaluates and accredits healthcare organizations based on their ability to meet specific quality standards, and provides information to consumers, employers, and healthcare professionals about the quality of healthcare services.
The Problem
One of the major pain points expressed by users was the lack of an online solution for certification management. The absence of a user-friendly platform meant that individuals had to rely on manual processes, leading to inefficiencies, delays, and frustration. Recognizing the need for change, NCQA has embarked on this project to revolutionize the way certification is handled.
The Solution
An online self-service certification management tool, that allows all users of the application from administrators, to doctors to access, update, and re-apply for recertification all while storing important and time consuming information that oftens takes weeks or months to gether for the certification process to be performed.
By moving the application procress online the applicants experienced greater ease and a more robust way to store and access (for proof) of information that would later be required when re-applying for certification - taking the hard work out of the process, and simplifying it.
Understanding the User
I started the research process by working with the Product Owner to understand the offline process of signing up for certification. And how to keep that information updated in order to renew the certification. Typically the offline process involves several visits to offices and locations, and lots of paperwork that goes back and forth, along with documents that need to be updated because they've expired.
The pain points were causing NCQA to move this offline process online, where the customer could store the information relevant at each stage of the certification, and be able to manage that centrally from one place.
Research Insight
Here were some of the insights gathered from the research:
Users wanted to be able to choose their certfication type
Users wanted to consolidate all of the documentation and process to date in one location that also helped them stay on track with what was missing for each certification at each location that the customers may have
It was more important to make sure that the application was tablet ready over mobile, since many representatives were in the field and a mobile device was too small to get this type of work done
Personas
Following the analysis of user research findings, the next step was to develop personas, which aided in envisioning the intended audience. To facilitate the design process, I ensured that one particular persona effectively represented a user that was interested in assisting through the offline process of certification, and who was enthusiastic about improving the workflow process, taking into account their pain points and frustrations. This persona served as a constant reference point throughout the entirety of the product design journey, helping to maintain a clear focus when making design choices.
