iPhone mockup of the updated Caretap home screen with the real-time tracker active counting services worked.
iPhone mockup of the updated Caretap home screen with the real-time tracker active counting services worked.
iPhone mockup of the updated Caretap home screen.
iPhone mockup of the updated Caretap home screen.
iPhone mockup of the updated Caretap resources screen
iPhone mockup of the updated Caretap resources screen

HealthTech

Mobile

Service Design

Product Strategy

Improving Caretap EVV's Home Healthcare Provider Experience

Caretap is a service developed by SRS Web Solutions that allows professional home health care providers (e.g., Personal Care Assistants) to log their working hours and activities securely to receive payment through an insurance provider. To optimize conversion and retention rates, I took a service design approach to uncover key opportunities for improvement along the entire user journey of Caretap services, including in-person and digital touchpoints.

Timeline

September - November 2022

Project type

This project was sparked as part of a quarter-long case study concept for a Service Design course as part of the UX Strategy graduate program at the University of Denver.

Roles

I led Service Design, UX Research, & Product Strategy for this project.

Scroll to final prototype walkthrough

Service design process

Service design process

Why I chose this project

Why I chose this challenge

This project was inspired by my experience using the Caretap app to report my working hours and activities as part of my Personal Care Assistant responsibilities. This information would then be audited by my employer, a health care agency, and sent to the receiver of care’s insurance company for compensation.

Project goal

Increase revenue through the optimization of conversion rates and number of active users by uncovering key opportunities to improve the user experience for home health care employees using Caretap services.

Scope

Although I included suggested changes in operations as part of my UX strategy, I was limited to implementing only product design changes since I’m not an SRS Solutions employee.

Constraints

Time was the main resource I had available for this project. Given the nature of the project, in addition to financial constraints, I speculated about some of the supporting processes and organizational goals.

What is Caretap?

Image of a Nurse with her patient, an senior citizen, smiling.
Image of a Nurse with her patient, an senior citizen, smiling.

The before

Caretap is a service developed by SRS Web Solutions that allows professional home health care providers (e.g., Personal Care Assistants) to log their working hours and activities securely to receive payment through an insurance provider.

iPhone mockup of the current Caretap EVV mobile app before changes.
iPhone mockup of the current Caretap EVV mobile app before changes.

Who uses Caretap services?

Caretap mobile app’s users are Personal Care Assistants (PCAs), Personal Attendants, Private Duty Nurses, and home healthcare service providers (App Store Preview 2022).


The Caretap mobile application is one of the ways PCAs can securely log their working hours. 

Design thinking framework implementation

UX Research methods

Deliverables

  1. Empathize

  • Service audit

  • Ethnographic organizational history

  • Observations from personal experience as a caregiver

  1. Define

  • User persona

  • User journey map

  1. Ideate

  • Proposing service improvements

  • Service scorecard

  • Sketching user flows

  1. Prototype

Hi-fi prototypes of the mobile app

  1. Define

Service blueprint

UX strategy

  1. Test

Concept test

  1. Prototype - second iteration

Hi-fi prototype iteration

Empathizing with organizational goals

Service audit

Secondary research

SRS Web Solutions' vision

Taking an ethnographic research approach as opposed to a scientific one, I’m going into this exploratory research without a hypothesis. My main goal is to observe someone from our target audience in their natural environment. A Field study will give us a better understanding of these potential users, their environment, the context of use, how they adapt to un-matched needs, and the “bigger picture”(NNGroup 2016).

Taking an ethnographic research approach as opposed to a scientific one, I’m going into this exploratory research without a hypothesis. My main goal is to observe someone from our target audience in their natural environment. A Field study will give us a better understanding of these potential users, their environment, the context of use, how they adapt to un-matched needs, and the “bigger picture”(NNGroup 2016).

Caretap's value proposition

The goal is to streamline operations on the business side (e.g., meeting regulatory requirements and billing) and for caregivers by simplifying scheduling and documentation processes.

Mockup of Caretap services on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.
Mockup of Caretap services on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.

Mockups of current services "the before" sourced from the Caretap website

Audit of current services

Qualitative data

Reporting hours and activities

During this service audit, I focused on how caregivers record services rendered through Caretap. Currently, there are four options for recording their hours and daily activities. Two of these processes can be completed using the Caretap mobile application, while the alternative options involve either calling an automated telephone service or filling out a form by hand.


Given these various ways of engaging with Caretap’s service, I detailed how customer actions slightly vary, impacting their experience. For context, it’s important to note that caregivers are approved for a specific monthly hourly allotment, given the recipient's health condition and insurance policies.

Input methods

Caretap EVV mobile app

Print-out timesheet

Call-in method

Using the Caretap EVV mobile app

Real-time entries: Users can check in and out at precisely the same time services begin and end. Here, users would update their status as soon as they enter and leave the home/facility.


Manual entries: Caregivers can submit their start and end times and relevant activities once services have been rendered. This can be done after each shift or by inputting multiple days at once as long as this task is completed before the end of the billing cycle.

iPhone mockup of the Caretap home screen.
iPhone mockup of the Caretap home screen.

To understand caregivers’ experience using Caretap, I wrote out key interactions between caregivers and the services and what happens “behind the scenes” that they aren’t aware of but directly impact the UX.

Front stage

Users who rely on the Caretap EVV mobile app to input their working hours only interact with the user interface.


Occasionally, an employee from the Health Care Agency may inquire about their services, tax documents, or a reminder to submit signatures at the end of a billing cycle.

Back stage

An administrative employee at the Health Care Agency handles input errors and schedule approvals at the end of each billing cycle. 


“Caretap’s Electronic Visit Verification tracks the caregiver's location using GPS location tracking” (Caretap n.d.). Caretapp uses technology to ensure its services are HIPAA and DHS compliant and fully secure, enabling e-signatures, tracking visits in real-time, and verifying services rendered (Caretap n.d.).

Printing-out a timesheet

Caregivers receive this form from their Health Care Agency in person and input the data using a pen once services have been rendered. At the end of the billing cycle, this sheet must be taken to the agency on Monday before 3 pm. Mistakes are remedied by picking up a new sheet at the agency since “white-out” is not permitted.

Print out form for Personal Care Assistant time and activity reporting.
Print out form for Personal Care Assistant time and activity reporting.

Front stage

When caregivers opt for the paper form option to record their hours, they must pick it up in person at the Health Care Agency’s offices. Once they have arrived, an available employee will print out the sheet, sign it, and stamp it before handing it over.

If the caregiver makes multiple mistakes when writing down their hours, they must return to the office for a new copy of the sheet.


The caregiver must drop off the completed forms on the first day of the new billing cycle before 1 pm. This input option involves at least two bi-weekly in-person interactions with an administrative employee.

Back stage

At the end of the billing cycle, healthcare agency employees will manually input the data from the signed form into their desktop browser reporting system, mConsent.


SRS Web Solutions Inc. developed mConsent, “[...]a health care technology platform that includes digital patient intake forms, patient scheduling, two-way text appointment reminders, video consults, secure digital billing, payments, and now, insurance verification”(Dental Town 2021).

Calling in

Alternatively, home care providers can utilize the Telephony Method, where they call for automated assistance at the exact start time of services and when these end. Numerical codes are used to note activities. 

Image of the Telephony method code sheet for reporting hours by phone.
Image of the Telephony method code sheet for reporting hours by phone.

Front stage

Home healthcare providers who choose the Telephony Method interact with a recording when checking in and out of their shifts. These calls must be completed using the client’s phone number on file.


At the end of the billing cycle, when signatures from patients and caregivers are required, they must go into the agency’s office to provide their signature.

Back stage

At the end of the billing cycle, healthcare agency employees will manually input the data from the signed form into their desktop browser reporting system, mConsent.

What the service audit revealed

To ensure clarity and facilitate stakeholder collaboration, I’ve categorized my findings into five distinct service design categories. I also find that breaking down findings into themes can simplify deciding on action steps.

People

  • Healthcare agencies save up to 50% on billing time and have higher caregiver efficiency rates, impacting the bottom line (Caretap n.d.).

  • Caretap reduces compliance risk (Caretap n.d.).

  • Caretap mobile app facilitates remote administrative tasks, minimizing caregivers’ time traveling to and from healthcare agency offices.

Products

  • Having multiple methods for recording shifts makes the service more accessible.

  • According to the Caretap website, “Caregivers can verify the logs and make corrections instantly before submission”(Caretap n.d.). This statement is inaccurate since logged hours are not editable using the mobile application if users choose the clock-in/out EVV method

Partners

Space is limited on paper timesheets for noting activities during a care visit. Activities listed in the mobile app appear only to serve the purpose of meeting insurance, DHS, and HIPAA requirements. This leaves room to explore partnerships in the wellness space surrounding caregiving services.

Processes

Caretap has achieved paperless documentation for caregivers using their app and has streamlined operational tasks for healthcare agencies. 

Power

  • Caregivers do not have access to their personal data. This data could be valuable in noticing changes in patient needs and health trends for motivational purposes. 

  • Making the app more inclusive, e.g., offering the app in other languages, may enable more caregivers to use the app to track their working hours/activities instead of traveling to the agency offices multiple times a month and using printed sheets.

  • In the Caretap app, there is a required open-ended input field titled “Reason” when recording activities. It is unclear what caregivers are expected to type in this text box, and these notes are non-retrievable once submitted.

Narrowing scope

HMWs

Service audit insights and next steps

Service audit insights and next steps

Overall, Caretap has effectively met its goal of increasing agencies' home healthcare revenue by increasing productivity and lowering costs. It has also fostered trust with healthcare agencies through its reliable compliance and secure cloud-based platform.


Caretap’s mobile experience can be improved in terms of usability and inclusive design best practices.

People

How might we empower home health care employees?

Products

  • How might we increase mobile app adoption?

  • How might we increase user engagement and retention?

  • How might we increase mobile app adoption?

  • How might we increase user engagement and retention?

Processes

How might we improve operational efficiency?

Mapping the personal care assistant experience

Personas

User journey map

Who are Caretap users?

When seeking to improve the Caretap app, I will use Lily as a frame of reference to empathize with her needs and motivations when navigating the process of learning about the app, onboarding, and then continuing its use, as long as she’s a professional Personal Care Assistant.

When seeking to improve the Caretap app, I will use Lily as a frame of reference to empathize with her needs and motivations when navigating the process of learning about the app, onboarding, and then continuing its use, as long as she’s a professional Personal Care Assistant.

Image of the Telephony method code sheet for reporting hours by phone.

Photo by Conscious Design on Unsplash

Photo by Conscious Design on Unsplash

Context

When Lily isn’t caring for her parents, she loves to spend time outdoors. She has a garden she tends to, she enjoys writing, and works at a couple local shops in town when she can.

She doesn’t consider herself an early-tech adopter, but is willing to pick up a new tool eventually if it saves her time and feels more convenient.

Lily has been losing her hearing over the past few years. This change has pushed her in the direction of switching over to using the Caretap app to report her hours instead of calling-in her hours and activities.

Network

Lily has two adult children who live within an hour drive. They visit on the weekends and give Lily some time to rest and recharge from her caregiving duties.

Considering diverse needs

Inclusive design

Personas

Designing more inclusively with Microsoft’s inclusive Toolkit.

The Persona Spectrum

I will use inclusive design tools such as the Persona Spectrum to capture our users' potentially permanent, temporary, and situational needs when using our mobile apps (Microsoft Inclusive Toolkit 54, n.d.).

I will use inclusive design tools such as the Persona Spectrum to capture our users' potentially permanent, temporary, and situational needs when using our mobile apps (Microsoft Inclusive Toolkit 54, n.d.).

A visual representation of the Persona Spectrum by Microsoft demonstrated varying needs of people.

The Persona Spectrum from Microsoft’s Inclusive Design 101 Toolkit p.22

The Persona Network

In this toolkit for inclusive design, the authors wrote, “Just as no person exists in isolation, neither does the Persona Spectrum. The Persona Network includes friends, coworkers, family members or even strangers”(Microsoft Design n.d.).

The Persona Network as a tool and activity can help me better understand the context in which users potentially interact with our services. This is especially relevant to our target audience, who are caregivers.

One use-case scenario could be a wellness seeker who is also an early adopter using Wellness Team to optimize their health and would also like to use the app to keep track of their parent’s activities since they haven’t yet warmed up to the technology. 

In this toolkit for inclusive design, the authors wrote, “Just as no person exists in isolation, neither does the Persona Spectrum. The Persona Network includes friends, coworkers, family members or even strangers”(Microsoft Design n.d.).

The Persona Network as a tool and activity can help me better understand the context in which users potentially interact with our services. This is especially relevant to our target audience, who are caregivers.

One use-case scenario could be a wellness seeker who is also an early adopter using Wellness Team to optimize their health and would also like to use the app to keep track of their parent’s activities since they haven’t yet warmed up to the technology. 

Inclusive UX Writing

We will use gender-neutral language where possible and apply other inclusive design best practices to design an experience that feels welcoming to as many people as possible.

We will use gender-neutral language where possible and apply other inclusive design best practices to design an experience that feels welcoming to as many people as possible.

Mapping Lily's Caretap experience

Figma prototype

Interaction design

Mapping Lily's journey

Now that we have a more holistic picture of who could be using Caretap, I used the generative research findings to empathize with Lily’s journey of becoming aware of our services, all the way to regularly using the Caretap app to report her care hours and activities.

I did this to anticipate where she may come across points of friction at different touch points and discover key opportunities.

User journey map encompassing the awareness, consideration, conversion, onboarding, and normal uses of Caretap services.
User journey map encompassing the awareness, consideration, conversion, onboarding, and normal uses of Caretap services.

Key moments

Awareness stage

Over-reliance on agency stakeholders to attract new clients and make them aware of the Caretap mobile app.

Conversion & onboarding

Over-reliance on agency staff to introduce and onboard new users

Regular use

Lack of delight and support.


Opportunity to add value: Can we leverage user data to personalize the UX?

Establishing next steps

Product management

Service scorecard

DesignOps

Prioritizing tasks based on user and business needs

Using a service scorecard, I measured each idea against; strategic value, desirability, viability, and feasibility to help prioritize next steps (The Moment n.d.).

Building a common understanding for cross-functional collaboration

Given these insights into each potential solution's strengths and weaknesses, I suggest continuing to develop the onboarding screens and a support feature for the Caretap app. This is a small investment compared to the number of users who could benefit from the improvement and the potential positive change to conversion rates and revenue.


I would also recommend taking ownership of the onboarding and support stages of the user journey. Although this change in operations entails a greater risk when compared to some alternative solutions, it would lower costs for agencies by taking away the responsibility of providing instruction and troubleshooting the app—directly boosting our value proposition to health care agencies and home caregivers, which could lead to a growth in sales and user retention rates. 


Finally, I suggest researching whether developing a service that allows digital signatures & documentation during the hiring process is feasible. Once we better understand the laws, regulations, and internal processes surrounding this touch point, we can narrow the scope and build a prototype to test with both agencies and their employees.

Daniel Cohen and three other authors at McKinsey & Company reported,


“As of 2019, the finance and operations category represented an estimated market size of $26 billion, which was 7 percent of digital health overall, even though a mere 12 percent of digital health companies compete in this category. That said, this growing market may be a good fit for nontraditional digital health entrants with a strong value proposition to improve financial outcomes” (McKinsey & Company 2020).

Furthering remote operations and employment opportunities within the healthcare industry are aligned with our organizational strategy and offer promising innovative and sustainable steps forward that could maintain SRS Web Solutions’ place as a leader in the healthcare technology services market.

High priority

Design and test an instructional onboarding flow

Design support page

Iterate on real-time and manual entry method flows

Conduct usability test + iterate based on user feedback before publishing changes

Explore in-app user feedback methods

Mid-priority

Design and test care insights dashboard

Research: How might we improve the UX during the awareness & consideration stages for newly hired Home Health Care employees?

Backlog

Explore taking ownership of Caretap tech support

Provide in-app chat support

Implement digital signatures during employee onboarding

Current state service Blueprinting

Figma prototype

Interaction design

The Service Blueprint is an indispensable tool for businesses to share operations logistics across teams quickly. It encourages transparency and effective communication while working in unison toward shared organizational goals.

Proactively solving operational challenges

I mapped out a blueprint of the current journey to adopting the Caretap EVV app to proactively pinpoint different stages in the user journey where operational bottlenecks and fail points could arise. We can optimize adoption rates and the number of active users.

Applying the Service Blueprint to departments within SRS Web Solutions helps us,

“[...] pinpoint dependencies between employee-facing and customer-facing processes in the same visualization and are instrumental in identifying pain points, optimizing complex interactions, and ultimately saving money for the organization and improving the experience for its customers” (NNGroup 2017). 

This tool can also improve accountability in cross-departmental initiatives by clearly stating ownership over each touch point. Within the Marketing department, we could map out how strategies are planned and executed. Within the human resource department, we could see if our talent acquisition operations are aligned with the organizational culture and strategy.

Service blueprint of Caretap's current services.
Service blueprint of Caretap's current services.

*Potential bottlenecks and points of failure

Awareness stage

Reliance on in-person signatures

Solving this with e-signatures would also make becoming a paid PCA more accessible.

Conversion & onboarding

Inconsistency

Over-reliance on agency stakeholders

Regular use

Lack of Support QA

We have no control over tech support

UI design implementation

Implementing Caretap mobile app UI changes

Usability heuristics

Figma hi-fi wireframes

Behind the design: the rationale & data that informed my design decisions

Authentication - before

iPhone mockup of the before version of the Caretap mobile app authentication screen.
iPhone mockup of the before version of the Caretap mobile app authentication screen.

Opportunities for improvement

  • Improve inclusivity: English is the only language option despite many caregivers at the agency referenced during research having employees who did not speak English. Therefore, we could potentially increase our target audience by offering services in their language.

  • Reduce uncertainty: Where is my login information? Why can't I create an account?

  • Implement usability heuristics: Input fields resemble a button which can cause confusion. By leveraging what's people expect an input field to look like based on their mental models, we can increase the likelihood of adoption and engagement.

  • Communicate the app's value: One way we could attempt to increase conversion is by explaining how the app is better than using a timesheet printout.

Authentication - after

iPhone mockups of the new authentication screens of the Caretap app.
iPhone mockups of the new authentication screens of the Caretap app.

Updates

Reduced uncertainty: Informing users that they would have received their account information in their welcome package sets clear expectations that they did not lose their login credentials and that not having a "Create an account" call-to-action is intentional.

Improved familiarity: Following UI usability heuristics, the input fields are less likely to be mistaken for buttons.

Reduced cognitive load: By breaking up the authentication inputs into two steps, I aimed to reduce any feelings of overwhelm with the set up requirements.

New onboarding

Updated Caretap EVV mobile app instructional onboardingscreens with colorful illustrations.
Updated Caretap EVV mobile app instructional onboardingscreens with colorful illustrations.

Updates

Increased inclusivity: Offering services in other languages can potentially increase mobile app conversion of current service users relying on paper solutions. From my observations visiting the health care agency, the majority of the Personal Care Assistants (PCAs) did not speak English and chose to use the printout timesheet over the app and/or relied on a family member help them input their hours worked.

Reduced uncertainty: Providing relevant and essential information regarding account information sets clear expectations that new users did not lose their login credentials and that not having an option to ceate an account is intentional.

Error prevention: Rather than relying on agency staff to communicate features verbally, instructional onboarding screens explain how users can input their hours for payment. This can reduce the need for agency staff to correct real-time data entries.

Improved familiarity: Following UI usability heuristics, the input fields are less likely to be mistaken for buttons.

Reduced cognitive load: By breaking up the authentication inputs into two steps, I aimed to reduce any feelings of overwhelm with the set up requirements.

Home - before

iPhone mockups with annotations of the Caretap EVV mobile app before UI updates.
iPhone mockups with annotations of the Caretap EVV mobile app before UI updates.

Home - after + new support page

iPhone mockups of the new home and support screens of the Caretap EVV mobile app with annotations.
iPhone mockups of the new home and support screens of the Caretap EVV mobile app with annotations.

Updates

Improved UI design: "Users often perceive aesthetically pleasing design as design that’s more usable." (Laws of UX, n.d.)

Improved accessibility: Increasing the contrast between UI elements, more people can use the app. We can further reduce cognitive load by eliminating unnecessary forms and clutter. Also, adding labels to the bottom navigation minimizes the need for recall.

Reduced agency costs: By notifying users when the billing period is ending, we avoid the need for agency staff to call their employees about past-due submissions.

Empowering users with information: Incorporating a support page can equip users with relevant and accurate information they can apply in their personal situation while reducing reliance on agency staff.

Presenting the Caretap EVV prototype final design

Figma prototype

Mobile

Usability heuristics

Mockup of the new Caretap EVV homescreen on a desk with a journal, laptop, and coffee surrounding the phone.
Mockup of the new Caretap EVV homescreen on a desk with a journal, laptop, and coffee surrounding the phone.

Video walkthrough of the Figma prototype

This concept test included an adaptive interview, where I asked follow-up questions based on comments made by the participant. 

This concept test included an adaptive interview, where I asked follow-up questions based on comments made by the participant. 

Solving for the triple bottom line

Business outcomes

UX strategy

Profit

  • Optimizing client scalability

  • Increasing Caretap EVV adoption rates

  • Increasing Caretap EVV retention rates

People

  • Lifting barriers to entry through inclusive design

  • Equipping agency staff

  • Empowering SRS Web Solutions’ employees

Planet

  • Less carbon emissions due to in-person visits

  • Less use of paper solutions

Mobile app next steps

data-informed decisions

Product management

High priority

Conduct an in-depth competitor analysis

Conduct an in-depth competitor analysis

Finish designing key user flows

Finish designing key user flows

Conduct usability tests

Conduct usability tests

Iterate on designs based on feedback

Iterate on designs based on feedback

Mid-term

Explore edge cases and other "non-happy paths"

Explore edge cases and other "non-happy paths"

Assess feasibility/viability of an in-app chat feature

Assess feasibility/viability of an in-app chat feature

Incorporate user feedback opportunities at different touchpoints

Incorporate user feedback opportunities at different touchpoints

Backlog

Explore viability of incorporating digital signatures during PCA hiring process leveraging MConsent software we already own.

Explore viability of incorporating digital signatures during PCA hiring process leveraging MConsent software we already own.

Assess ROI and effectiveness of taking ownership over Caretap EVV support with a pilot CX program

Prioritize improvements, new features, & partnerships based on feedback

Prioritize improvements, new features, & partnerships based on feedback

Establishing product/service S.M.A.R.T goals

In addition to the quantitative measures listed below, to provide meaningful context to these numbers, I suggest incorporating qualitative research methods to understand the “why” behind the stats.

Some of the user behaviors we can consider when assessing the UX are when users have downloaded the app, paused their use, or deleted it.

For new users, we can ask what they expect to gain from the service. We could ask the users who have paused their usage for over a month or have deleted the app how it didn’t meet their needs and what they will use instead as an alternative solution.

In addition to the quantitative measures listed below, to provide meaningful context to these numbers, I suggest incorporating qualitative research methods to understand the “why” behind the stats.

Some of the user behaviors we can consider when assessing the UX are when users have downloaded the app, paused their use, or deleted it.

For new users, we can ask what they expect to gain from the service. We could ask the users who have paused their usage for over a month or have deleted the app how it didn’t meet their needs and what they will use instead as an alternative solution.

Measuring performance

Quantitative

  • Caretap EVV mobile app revenue

  • Number of mobile app downloads

  • Number of active users

  • Mobile app user retention rate

  • Mobile app conversion rates

  • CSAT score

  • Usability testing metrics

  • Employee engagement

Qualitative

  • User Interview insights

  • Reviews

  • Social listening

  • Survey qualitative questions

  • Field study observations

Targets/timelines

To be determined

Reflecting on the project

Post-mortem

Reflection

Stakeholder insights

Having the constraint of not being an SRS Web Solutions' employee, I didn't have the opportunity to conduct stakeholder interviews that would have provided valuable insights into organizational goals, legal and financial constraints, current user demographics (pertaining to language barriers) and device usage.

UX research method constraints

Under different constraints, ideally, I would have conducted more usability tests and user interviews with other people currently using Caretap services. I would have also undertaken tree testing and other research methods to test assumptions around labeling/taxonomy, information architecture, and key flows before designing the high-fidelity prototypes.

Scroll to final prototype walkthrough

Mockup of the new Caretap EVV mobile app home page with the timer tracking working hours.
Mockup of the new Caretap EVV mobile app home page with the timer tracking working hours.

That's all for now. Thanks for taking the time!

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Person holding an iphone with the Wellness Team mobile app concept routines homepage pulled up.
Person holding an iphone with the Wellness Team mobile app concept routines homepage pulled up.

Product Design

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The Wellness Team app concept aims to motivate care recipients to build healthier habits by supporting their sense of autonomy, achievement, and connection while supporting caregiver needs for clear communication and daily activity management. I developed this concept inspired by my experience as a caregiver and after conducting ethnographic research and shadowing an informal caregiver.

See case study

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Person holding an iphone with the Wellness Team mobile app with the inventory management app Zoe designed pulled up, showing the inventory dashboard.

Omni-channel Inventory Management for Micro Businesses Owners

The Wellness Team app concept aims to motivate care recipients to build healthier habits by supporting their sense of autonomy, achievement, and connection while supporting caregiver needs for clear communication and daily activity management. I developed this concept inspired by my experience as a caregiver and after conducting ethnographic research and shadowing an informal caregiver.

Open in Confluence

iPhone mockup of the updated Caretap home screen with the real-time tracker active counting services worked.
iPhone mockup of the updated Caretap home screen.
iPhone mockup of the updated Caretap resources screen

HealthTech

Mobile

Service Design

Product Strategy

Improving Caretap EVV's Home Healthcare Provider Experience

Caretap is a service developed by SRS Web Solutions that allows professional home health care providers (e.g., Personal Care Assistants) to log their working hours and activities securely to receive payment through an insurance provider. To optimize conversion and retention rates, I took a service design approach to uncover key opportunities for improvement along the entire user journey of Caretap services, including in-person and digital touchpoints.

Timeline

September - November 2022

Project type

This project was sparked as part of a quarter-long case study concept for a Service Design course as part of the UX Strategy graduate program at the University of Denver.

Roles

I led Service Design, UX Research, & Product Strategy for this project.

Scroll to final prototype walkthrough

Service design process

Why I chose this project

This project was inspired by my experience using the Caretap app to report my working hours and activities as part of my Personal Care Assistant responsibilities. This information would then be audited by my employer, a health care agency, and sent to the receiver of care’s insurance company for compensation.

Project goal

Increase revenue through the optimization of conversion rates and number of active users by uncovering key opportunities to improve the user experience for home health care employees using Caretap services.

Scope

Although I included suggested changes in operations as part of my UX strategy, I was limited to implementing only product design changes since I’m not an SRS Solutions employee.

Constraints

Time was the main resource I had available for this project. Given the nature of the project, in addition to financial constraints, I speculated about some of the supporting processes and organizational goals.

What is Caretap?

Image of a Nurse with her patient, an senior citizen, smiling.

The before

Caretap is a service developed by SRS Web Solutions that allows professional home health care providers (e.g., Personal Care Assistants) to log their working hours and activities securely to receive payment through an insurance provider.

iPhone mockup of the current Caretap EVV mobile app before changes.

Who uses Caretap services?

Caretap mobile app’s users are Personal Care Assistants (PCAs), Personal Attendants, Private Duty Nurses, and home healthcare service providers (App Store Preview 2022).


The Caretap mobile application is one of the ways PCAs can securely log their working hours. 

Design thinking framework implementation

UX Research methods

Deliverables

  1. Empathize

  • Service audit

  • Ethnographic organizational history

  • Observations from personal experience as a caregiver

  1. Define

  • User persona

  • User journey map

  1. Ideate

  • Proposing service improvements

  • Service scorecard

  • Sketching user flows

  1. Prototype

Hi-fi prototypes of the mobile app

  1. Define

Service blueprint

UX strategy

  1. Test

Concept test

  1. Prototype - second iteration

Hi-fi prototype iteration

Empathizing with organizational goals

Service audit

Secondary research

SRS Web Solutions' vision

Taking an ethnographic research approach as opposed to a scientific one, I’m going into this exploratory research without a hypothesis. My main goal is to observe someone from our target audience in their natural environment. A Field study will give us a better understanding of these potential users, their environment, the context of use, how they adapt to un-matched needs, and the “bigger picture”(NNGroup 2016).

Caretap's value proposition

The goal is to streamline operations on the business side (e.g., meeting regulatory requirements and billing) and for caregivers by simplifying scheduling and documentation processes.

Mockup of Caretap services on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.

Mockups of current services "the before" sourced from the Caretap website

Audit of current services

Qualitative data

Reporting hours and activities

During this service audit, I focused on how caregivers record services rendered through Caretap. Currently, there are four options for recording their hours and daily activities. Two of these processes can be completed using the Caretap mobile application, while the alternative options involve either calling an automated telephone service or filling out a form by hand.


Given these various ways of engaging with Caretap’s service, I detailed how customer actions slightly vary, impacting their experience. For context, it’s important to note that caregivers are approved for a specific monthly hourly allotment, given the recipient's health condition and insurance policies.

Input methods

Caretap EVV mobile app

Print-out timesheet

Call-in method

Using the Caretap EVV mobile app

Real-time entries: Users can check in and out at precisely the same time services begin and end. Here, users would update their status as soon as they enter and leave the home/facility.


Manual entries: Caregivers can submit their start and end times and relevant activities once services have been rendered. This can be done after each shift or by inputting multiple days at once as long as this task is completed before the end of the billing cycle.

iPhone mockup of the Caretap home screen.

To understand caregivers’ experience using Caretap, I wrote out key interactions between caregivers and the services and what happens “behind the scenes” that they aren’t aware of but directly impact the UX.

Front stage

Users who rely on the Caretap EVV mobile app to input their working hours only interact with the user interface.


Occasionally, an employee from the Health Care Agency may inquire about their services, tax documents, or a reminder to submit signatures at the end of a billing cycle.

Back stage

An administrative employee at the Health Care Agency handles input errors and schedule approvals at the end of each billing cycle. 


“Caretap’s Electronic Visit Verification tracks the caregiver's location using GPS location tracking” (Caretap n.d.). Caretapp uses technology to ensure its services are HIPAA and DHS compliant and fully secure, enabling e-signatures, tracking visits in real-time, and verifying services rendered (Caretap n.d.).

Printing-out a timesheet

Caregivers receive this form from their Health Care Agency in person and input the data using a pen once services have been rendered. At the end of the billing cycle, this sheet must be taken to the agency on Monday before 3 pm. Mistakes are remedied by picking up a new sheet at the agency since “white-out” is not permitted.

Print out form for Personal Care Assistant time and activity reporting.

Front stage

When caregivers opt for the paper form option to record their hours, they must pick it up in person at the Health Care Agency’s offices. Once they have arrived, an available employee will print out the sheet, sign it, and stamp it before handing it over.

If the caregiver makes multiple mistakes when writing down their hours, they must return to the office for a new copy of the sheet.


The caregiver must drop off the completed forms on the first day of the new billing cycle before 1 pm. This input option involves at least two bi-weekly in-person interactions with an administrative employee.

Back stage

At the end of the billing cycle, healthcare agency employees will manually input the data from the signed form into their desktop browser reporting system, mConsent.


SRS Web Solutions Inc. developed mConsent, “[...]a health care technology platform that includes digital patient intake forms, patient scheduling, two-way text appointment reminders, video consults, secure digital billing, payments, and now, insurance verification”(Dental Town 2021).

Calling in

Alternatively, home care providers can utilize the Telephony Method, where they call for automated assistance at the exact start time of services and when these end. Numerical codes are used to note activities. 

Image of the Telephony method code sheet for reporting hours by phone.

Front stage

Home healthcare providers who choose the Telephony Method interact with a recording when checking in and out of their shifts. These calls must be completed using the client’s phone number on file.


At the end of the billing cycle, when signatures from patients and caregivers are required, they must go into the agency’s office to provide their signature.

Back stage

At the end of the billing cycle, healthcare agency employees will manually input the data from the signed form into their desktop browser reporting system, mConsent.

What the service audit revealed

To ensure clarity and facilitate stakeholder collaboration, I’ve categorized my findings into five distinct service design categories. I also find that breaking down findings into themes can simplify deciding on action steps.

People

  • Healthcare agencies save up to 50% on billing time and have higher caregiver efficiency rates, impacting the bottom line (Caretap n.d.).

  • Caretap reduces compliance risk (Caretap n.d.).

  • Caretap mobile app facilitates remote administrative tasks, minimizing caregivers’ time traveling to and from healthcare agency offices.

Products

  • Having multiple methods for recording shifts makes the service more accessible.

  • According to the Caretap website, “Caregivers can verify the logs and make corrections instantly before submission”(Caretap n.d.). This statement is inaccurate since logged hours are not editable using the mobile application if users choose the clock-in/out EVV method

Partners

Space is limited on paper timesheets for noting activities during a care visit. Activities listed in the mobile app appear only to serve the purpose of meeting insurance, DHS, and HIPAA requirements. This leaves room to explore partnerships in the wellness space surrounding caregiving services.

Processes

Caretap has achieved paperless documentation for caregivers using their app and has streamlined operational tasks for healthcare agencies. 

Power

  • Caregivers do not have access to their personal data. This data could be valuable in noticing changes in patient needs and health trends for motivational purposes. 

  • Making the app more inclusive, e.g., offering the app in other languages, may enable more caregivers to use the app to track their working hours/activities instead of traveling to the agency offices multiple times a month and using printed sheets.

  • In the Caretap app, there is a required open-ended input field titled “Reason” when recording activities. It is unclear what caregivers are expected to type in this text box, and these notes are non-retrievable once submitted.

Narrowing scope

HMWs

Service audit insights and next steps

Overall, Caretap has effectively met its goal of increasing agencies' home healthcare revenue by increasing productivity and lowering costs. It has also fostered trust with healthcare agencies through its reliable compliance and secure cloud-based platform.


Caretap’s mobile experience can be improved in terms of usability and inclusive design best practices.

People

How might we empower home health care employees?

Products

  • How might we increase mobile app adoption?

  • How might we increase user engagement and retention?

Processes

How might we improve operational efficiency?

Mapping the personal care assistant experience

Personas

User journey map

Who are Caretap users?

When seeking to improve the Caretap app, I will use Lily as a frame of reference to empathize with her needs and motivations when navigating the process of learning about the app, onboarding, and then continuing its use, as long as she’s a professional Personal Care Assistant.

Image of the Telephony method code sheet for reporting hours by phone.

Photo by Conscious Design on Unsplash

Context

When Lily isn’t caring for her parents, she loves to spend time outdoors. She has a garden she tends to, she enjoys writing, and works at a couple local shops in town when she can.

She doesn’t consider herself an early-tech adopter, but is willing to pick up a new tool eventually if it saves her time and feels more convenient.

Lily has been losing her hearing over the past few years. This change has pushed her in the direction of switching over to using the Caretap app to report her hours instead of calling-in her hours and activities.

Network

Lily has two adult children who live within an hour drive. They visit on the weekends and give Lily some time to rest and recharge from her caregiving duties.

Considering diverse needs

Inclusive design

Personas

Designing more inclusively with Microsoft’s inclusive Toolkit.

The Persona Spectrum

I will use inclusive design tools such as the Persona Spectrum to capture our users' potentially permanent, temporary, and situational needs when using our mobile apps (Microsoft Inclusive Toolkit 54, n.d.).

A visual representation of the Persona Spectrum by Microsoft demonstrated varying needs of people.

The Persona Spectrum from Microsoft’s Inclusive Design 101 Toolkit p.22

The Persona Network

In this toolkit for inclusive design, the authors wrote, “Just as no person exists in isolation, neither does the Persona Spectrum. The Persona Network includes friends, coworkers, family members or even strangers”(Microsoft Design n.d.).

The Persona Network as a tool and activity can help me better understand the context in which users potentially interact with our services. This is especially relevant to our target audience, who are caregivers.

One use-case scenario could be a wellness seeker who is also an early adopter using Wellness Team to optimize their health and would also like to use the app to keep track of their parent’s activities since they haven’t yet warmed up to the technology. 

Inclusive UX Writing

We will use gender-neutral language where possible and apply other inclusive design best practices to design an experience that feels welcoming to as many people as possible.

Mapping Lily's Caretap experience

Figma prototype

Interaction design

Mapping Lily's journey

Now that we have a more holistic picture of who could be using Caretap, I used the generative research findings to empathize with Lily’s journey of becoming aware of our services, all the way to regularly using the Caretap app to report her care hours and activities.

I did this to anticipate where she may come across points of friction at different touch points and discover key opportunities.

User journey map encompassing the awareness, consideration, conversion, onboarding, and normal uses of Caretap services.

Key moments

Awareness stage

Over-reliance on agency stakeholders to attract new clients and make them aware of the Caretap mobile app.

Conversion & onboarding

Over-reliance on agency staff to introduce and onboard new users

Regular use

Lack of delight and support.


Opportunity to add value: Can we leverage user data to personalize the UX?

Establishing next steps

Product management

Service scorecard

DesignOps

Prioritizing tasks based on user and business needs

Using a service scorecard, I measured each idea against; strategic value, desirability, viability, and feasibility to help prioritize next steps (The Moment n.d.).

Building a common understanding for cross-functional collaboration

Given these insights into each potential solution's strengths and weaknesses, I suggest continuing to develop the onboarding screens and a support feature for the Caretap app. This is a small investment compared to the number of users who could benefit from the improvement and the potential positive change to conversion rates and revenue.


I would also recommend taking ownership of the onboarding and support stages of the user journey. Although this change in operations entails a greater risk when compared to some alternative solutions, it would lower costs for agencies by taking away the responsibility of providing instruction and troubleshooting the app—directly boosting our value proposition to health care agencies and home caregivers, which could lead to a growth in sales and user retention rates. 


Finally, I suggest researching whether developing a service that allows digital signatures & documentation during the hiring process is feasible. Once we better understand the laws, regulations, and internal processes surrounding this touch point, we can narrow the scope and build a prototype to test with both agencies and their employees.

Daniel Cohen and three other authors at McKinsey & Company reported,


“As of 2019, the finance and operations category represented an estimated market size of $26 billion, which was 7 percent of digital health overall, even though a mere 12 percent of digital health companies compete in this category. That said, this growing market may be a good fit for nontraditional digital health entrants with a strong value proposition to improve financial outcomes” (McKinsey & Company 2020).

Furthering remote operations and employment opportunities within the healthcare industry are aligned with our organizational strategy and offer promising innovative and sustainable steps forward that could maintain SRS Web Solutions’ place as a leader in the healthcare technology services market.

High priority

Design and test an instructional onboarding flow

Design support page

Iterate on real-time and manual entry method flows

Conduct usability test + iterate based on user feedback before publishing changes

Explore in-app user feedback methods

Mid-priority

Design and test care insights dashboard

Research: How might we improve the UX during the awareness & consideration stages for newly hired Home Health Care employees?

Backlog

Explore taking ownership of Caretap tech support

Provide in-app chat support

Implement digital signatures during employee onboarding

Current state service Blueprinting

Figma prototype

Interaction design

The Service Blueprint is an indispensable tool for businesses to share operations logistics across teams quickly. It encourages transparency and effective communication while working in unison toward shared organizational goals.

Proactively solving operational challenges

I mapped out a blueprint of the current journey to adopting the Caretap EVV app to proactively pinpoint different stages in the user journey where operational bottlenecks and fail points could arise. We can optimize adoption rates and the number of active users.

Applying the Service Blueprint to departments within SRS Web Solutions helps us,

“[...] pinpoint dependencies between employee-facing and customer-facing processes in the same visualization and are instrumental in identifying pain points, optimizing complex interactions, and ultimately saving money for the organization and improving the experience for its customers” (NNGroup 2017). 

This tool can also improve accountability in cross-departmental initiatives by clearly stating ownership over each touch point. Within the Marketing department, we could map out how strategies are planned and executed. Within the human resource department, we could see if our talent acquisition operations are aligned with the organizational culture and strategy.

Service blueprint of Caretap's current services.

*Potential bottlenecks and points of failure

Awareness stage

Reliance on in-person signatures

Solving this with e-signatures would also make becoming a paid PCA more accessible.

Conversion & onboarding

Inconsistency

Over-reliance on agency stakeholders

Regular use

Lack of Support QA

We have no control over tech support

UI design implementation

Usability heuristics

Figma hi-fi wireframes

Behind the design: the rationale & data that informed my design decisions

Authentication - before

iPhone mockup of the before version of the Caretap mobile app authentication screen.

Opportunities for improvement

  • Improve inclusivity: English is the only language option despite many caregivers at the agency referenced during research having employees who did not speak English. Therefore, we could potentially increase our target audience by offering services in their language.

  • Reduce uncertainty: Where is my login information? Why can't I create an account?

  • Implement usability heuristics: Input fields resemble a button which can cause confusion. By leveraging what's people expect an input field to look like based on their mental models, we can increase the likelihood of adoption and engagement.

  • Communicate the app's value: One way we could attempt to increase conversion is by explaining how the app is better than using a timesheet printout.

Authentication - after

iPhone mockups of the new authentication screens of the Caretap app.

Updates

Reduced uncertainty: Informing users that they would have received their account information in their welcome package sets clear expectations that they did not lose their login credentials and that not having a "Create an account" call-to-action is intentional.

Improved familiarity: Following UI usability heuristics, the input fields are less likely to be mistaken for buttons.

Reduced cognitive load: By breaking up the authentication inputs into two steps, I aimed to reduce any feelings of overwhelm with the set up requirements.

New onboarding

iPhone mockups of new Caretap onboarding screens.

Updates

Increased inclusivity: Offering services in other languages can potentially increase mobile app conversion of current service users relying on paper solutions. From my observations visiting the health care agency, the majority of the Personal Care Assistants (PCAs) did not speak English and chose to use the printout timesheet over the app and/or relied on a family member help them input their hours worked.

Reduced uncertainty: Providing relevant and essential information regarding account information sets clear expectations that new users did not lose their login credentials and that not having an option to ceate an account is intentional.

Error prevention: Rather than relying on agency staff to communicate features verbally, instructional onboarding screens explain how users can input their hours for payment. This can reduce the need for agency staff to correct real-time data entries.

Improved familiarity: Following UI usability heuristics, the input fields are less likely to be mistaken for buttons.

Reduced cognitive load: By breaking up the authentication inputs into two steps, I aimed to reduce any feelings of overwhelm with the set up requirements.

Home - before

iPhone mockups with annotations of the Caretap EVV mobile app before UI updates.

Home - after + new support page

iPhone mockups of the new home and support screens of the Caretap EVV mobile app with annotations.

Updates

Improved UI design: "Users often perceive aesthetically pleasing design as design that’s more usable." (Laws of UX, n.d.)

Improved accessibility: Increasing the contrast between UI elements, more people can use the app. We can further reduce cognitive load by eliminating unnecessary forms and clutter. Also, adding labels to the bottom navigation minimizes the need for recall.

Reduced agency costs: By notifying users when the billing period is ending, we avoid the need for agency staff to call their employees about past-due submissions.

Empowering users with information: Incorporating a support page can equip users with relevant and accurate information they can apply in their personal situation while reducing reliance on agency staff.

Presenting the Caretap EVV prototype final design

Figma prototype

Mobile

Usability heuristics

Mockup of the new Caretap EVV homescreen on a desk with a journal, laptop, and coffee surrounding the phone.

Video walkthrough of the Figma prototype

This concept test included an adaptive interview, where I asked follow-up questions based on comments made by the participant. 

Solving for the triple bottom line

Business outcomes

UX strategy

Profit

  • Optimizing client scalability

  • Increasing Caretap EVV adoption rates

  • Increasing Caretap EVV retention rates

People

  • Lifting barriers to entry through inclusive design

  • Equipping agency staff

  • Empowering SRS Web Solutions’ employees

Planet

  • Less carbon emissions due to in-person visits

  • Less use of paper solutions

Mobile app next steps

data-informed decisions

Product management

High priority

Conduct an in-depth competitor analysis

Finish designing key user flows

Conduct usability tests

Iterate on designs based on feedback

Mid-term

Explore edge cases and other "non-happy paths"

Assess feasibility/viability of an in-app chat feature

Incorporate user feedback opportunities at different touchpoints

Backlog

Explore viability of incorporating digital signatures during PCA hiring process leveraging MConsent software we already own.

Assess ROI and effectiveness of taking ownership over Caretap EVV support with a pilot CX program

Prioritize improvements, new features, & partnerships based on feedback

Establishing product/service S.M.A.R.T goals

In addition to the quantitative measures listed below, to provide meaningful context to these numbers, I suggest incorporating qualitative research methods to understand the “why” behind the stats.

Some of the user behaviors we can consider when assessing the UX are when users have downloaded the app, paused their use, or deleted it.

For new users, we can ask what they expect to gain from the service. We could ask the users who have paused their usage for over a month or have deleted the app how it didn’t meet their needs and what they will use instead as an alternative solution.

Measuring performance

Quantitative

  • Caretap EVV mobile app revenue

  • Number of mobile app downloads

  • Number of active users

  • Mobile app user retention rate

  • Mobile app conversion rates

  • CSAT score

  • Usability testing metrics

  • Employee engagement

Qualitative

  • User Interview insights

  • Reviews

  • Social listening

  • Survey qualitative questions

  • Field study observations

Targets/timelines

To be determined

Reflecting on the project

Post-mortem

Reflection

Stakeholder insights

Having the constraint of not being an SRS Web Solutions' employee, I didn't have the opportunity to conduct stakeholder interviews that would have provided valuable insights into organizational goals, legal and financial constraints, current user demographics (pertaining to language barriers) and device usage.

UX research method constraints

Under different constraints, ideally, I would have conducted more usability tests and user interviews with other people currently using Caretap services. I would have also undertaken tree testing and other research methods to test assumptions around labeling/taxonomy, information architecture, and key flows before designing the high-fidelity prototypes.

Scroll to final prototype walkthrough

Mockup of the new Caretap EVV mobile app home page with the timer tracking working hours.

That's all for now. Thanks for taking the time!

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