Category: St. Joseph Health Systems

Attached is our App prototype mock up

SJHS app mock up

Attached is our business Canvas

 

Presentation4

User Scenario:

User Pain Point: Users for our service include both medical offices and the patients that utilize these medical offices for consultations, appointments, etc. The offices face trouble in the form of lost revenue when patients miss appointments due to lack of access to transportation. Further, patients who miss appointments due to lack of access to transportation miss out on crucial medical services necessary to their wellbeing.	Entice: Patients and offices are enticed to implement this service because there is currently a high demand for reliable transportation options for people living in low income situations. Patients specifically will be enticed to use this service in order to gain valuable insights to the resources available for transportation to and from doctor visits. These resources primarily focus on subsidized, scheduled, and reliable transportation.  Patients will also be enticed with the rewards system that is attached to our service. We are going to continue to  test which reward will have the maximum benefit but at this point we are thinking that when the patient uses the service they receive “uber points” to use for transportation at their own discretion.	Enter: Patients specifically enter this service the moment that they schedule an appointment. When scheduling appointments, patients are referred to this service so that they have the ability to examine potential transportation options and costs. Additionally, offices enter this service at the same point in time so that they can also be assured that patients are aware of all available transportation options and costs.
Engage: Patients are engaged with the service the moment they begin to commute from their starting location to the desired hospital location through the use of the app. How convenient the overall use and implementation of app, minimal waiting time, accuracy, and positive experience with other individuals during commute are all factors that will measure how engaged the user is.	Exit: When users arrive to their destination using the app to find the transportation method that most suits them.  Volunteers and other SJHS employees will readily welcome patients as they enter at their specific appointments.	Extend: Users extend the use of this service by using it repeatedly for the long-term or even as a primary means of transportation to get to their appointments. The rewards system is designed to incentivize users to continue using the service.

 

Subject- What is the story about?

• Our ideation process trying to come up with a solution for transportation issues for low income patients in  SJHS

Goal- What do you want to achieve with this story

• Present a viable and suitable solution and prototype

Audience

• SJHS administration and offices of community outreach

Before – what does your audience think, feel , know, want, before they have experienced your story

• Gallery Day
• details on the problem
• About the class
• Failed solutions
• Want
  • solution
  • cost effective
  • no liability or legal issues
  • not alot of required man power or capital

set the scene – what do you need to introduce?

• process used
• ethnography
• guiding principles
• trends
• immersions
• past failed attempts

make your point

• solutions
• how it fits needs
• how its integrated into existing system
• babysitting
• rewards

conclusion

• who it helps
• how to move forward
• cost
• reduction of missed and skipped appointments

After

• a sense of hope
• desire to look into it more
• desire to pass along ideas
• excitement about future

 

Nice work outlining the prototypes your team will be taking forward.  I encourage you to get a bit more creative with exploring the sharing economy concept around Uber.  The article you linked to noted a much higher compliance rate for attending appointments for those with vehicles than those without.  Could the population of SJHS create their own Uber of ride sharing?  These patients are in poverty, so could they generate additional income?  Or perhaps they just car pool and their is a discount or incentive by SJHS if they do car pool?  Or could you create a ND volunteer pool, or even minimum wage job, where students sign up and drive patients…

To get feedback on the different ideas, I think you can create some visuals that represent the different options and how the patient would interface with them and have a discussion about what they would have concerns about with each option.

*Just like with your ethnographic research, you will want to capture video, photos, and direct quotes.

For the 5E’s, remember for each idea how your user is “enticed”.  This is a big hurdle of how you will compel participation.  Implementation of ideas is always the toughest part!

Idea 1: Mobile App/ Scheduling System 

Summary of Idea: Idea 1 consists of a system utilizing both an app/website as well as a receptionist/ transportation coordinator. The system will begin when a patient first schedules an appointment. The receptionist will ask if they have a Smartphone. If yes, the receptionist will ask if they would prefer to get text message and use an app or to receive a phone call. If no, it will automatically be a phone call. A few days before the appointment there will be a confirmation text or call. With the text, the patient will confirm the appointment and answer if they need transportation help. If yes, it will direct them to a webpage or an app in which they can enter all of the relevant information such as appointment time, pickup location, insurance information, budget, number of passengers, etc. The app will put out all of the relevant transportation options including cost and duration of trip and the patient will select and schedule the method of their choice. If the patient does not have a smartphone or does not choose to use the app, a phone call will be made and a receptionist or transportation coordinator will enter the information into the system and book the transportation. Patients will also receive a push notification or automated phone call the morning of their appointment reminding them of their pickup time and method of transportation.

Consider the Setting: We believe that it would be beneficial to first show our rough idea of our prototype to experts and staff such as Michelle, Geoff, Receptionists and Care Coordinators. Given that this is a system that would be used by SJHS and their staff, the input from the people running the technology would be the most beneficial in helping us modify and tweak our prototype to best fit SJHS needs. We would also want to talk to someone in the IT department about systems integration. After the app is created, we would then test it on users.

Define What to Test: We would test the ability for the app to effectively schedule and book transportation services. We would also test to see if the SJHS staff is able to use the system and integrate it into their current system and daily work. In doing so, we will be able to discover the effectiveness of our overall prototype system. It is important for us to determine if this system could work with the SJHS administrative staff before going any further because if it cannot work with the administrators then it will not be able to work for the patients themselves.

Define Feedback Activities: Our first order of business is to get into contact with the stakeholders that we have already interviewed. Feedback from stakeholders such as Geoff would be extremely useful because these people have already worked to solve the current transportation problems. Furthermore, talking with Michelle is crucial because she will be able to tell us whether or not our prototype would work on a large scale with the many offices of the SJHS. Lastly, we must meet with more receptionists and volunteers because they will be the ones who would actually be using our service in their day-to-day work. In talking with all of these stakeholders, we will be able to make changes to our idea, and ultimately come up with the best possible solution to the transportation problems at hand.

 

Idea 2: Uber Partnership 

Summary of Idea:

Idea 2 involves St. Joseph Health System developing a partnership with Uber.  While prices associated with Uber may be a concern, the flexibility and readiness that Uber provides will have enough of a positive impact that SJHS will overcome its current transportation problem.  Some barriers to developing such a partnership include billing; while Medicaid patients are covered for transportation in most situations, the amount organizations are reimbursed varies between states.  Another issue is the fact that SJHS patients and clients may not have the ability to readily access technology such as smartphones used to request Uber rides.  The benefits that having clients use Uber affords healthcare organizations outweighs these barriers, and there are even ways to overcome these barriers.  At the following URL, https://tinyurl.com/n4rthzp, a healthcare expert discusses the various ways organizations have undertaken partnerships with Uber and Lyft to overcome problems with transportation.  There is an opportunity for SJHS to give patients access to requesting Ubers on their website or through phone calls with receptionists.  Our team will conduct further research into the intricacies of billing regulations and any other liabilities or other issues associated with SJHS partnering with a transportation company such as Uber.

Consider the Setting: We are not innovating a product necessarily, but rather creating a new relationship between SJHS and Uber.  SJHS employees will have a general awareness of Uber’s technology, yet we could certainly role play as SJHS clients looking for a ride and reveal how efficient Uber is.  We feel it would be beneficial to pitch our idea to SJHS at one of their facilities.  With access to multiple departments, we could discuss the complexities of billing with SJHS employees who would be involved.  We could also have a few SJHS volunteers join the meeting, so they could gain a better understanding of what it would look like assisting people arriving at the hospital in Ubers.

Define What to Test : We need to test our idea in two ways.  First, we need to assess the likelihood of SJHS patients using Uber after a partnership had been developed.  Through our research we are confident that clients would use Uber.  Secondly, we need to test how SJHS employees adjust to a partnership with Uber.  Employees in charge of billing with Medicaid and Medicare patients will take on a slightly different role since adjustments would need to be made when billing for patients who used Uber.

Define Feedback Activities: We will assess feedback from patients’ point of view and SJHS employees’ perspective.  We will plan to visit different SJHS facilities and ask patients whether they used Uber.  If they answer yes, we will ask how they felt about the experience.  We will also develop a survey to be passed out to patients, possibly in the Emergency Room or in the lobbies of different facilities.  Finally, we will conduct several meetings with SJHS employees throughout the next few months after establishing a partnership with Uber. This will allow us to assess the functionality of the new partnership from SJHS’s perspective.

Idea 3: SHJS Shuttle Service 

Summary of Idea: Idea 3 involves SJHS purchasing at least two vans to provide patients complimentary rides to and from their appointment in specific drop-off/ pick-up zones. To request a ride, patients would either call or visit the hospital website. Patients would be required to give their name, location, and number of people they are riding with. Shuttles would go to designated drop-off/pick-up locations based on the database of SJHS’s clients in the Mishawaka area. Approved volunteers could drive the shuttles and be in constant communication with a dispatcher for every drop-off and pick-up.

 

Consider the Setting: This idea would best be shared in a meeting with team members, Michelle, Geoff and SJHS staff present. It would be best to go over logistics and the big picture plan with Geoff and Michelle who can add valuable input with their expertise and experience. Once the idea is approved by SJHS, we would meet with the IT department to go over updating their website so that users can request rides online.

 

Define What to Test: Would clients use shuttle service? What kinds of clients would use it? How do we make the service convenient to patients and resource efficient to the organization? How do we approve volunteer drivers? Where will the startup money come from? Does SJHS have a flexible budget that will enable this program to work?

 

Define Feedback Activities:

We would start out by administering a survey to see how many patients are interested in utilizing this service. In doing so, we will be able to identify whether or not our idea is feasible in the first place. From a financial aspect, we will need to meet with SJHS administrators that deal specifically with managing system budgets. This will allow us to determine if our idea is financially doable and if there is any room in the budget to fund the start of the program.

 

As you begin thinking about how to get feedback on your ideas, keep your Point of View Statement in mind.  From your presentation I understand this to be, “St. Joseph Health System patients that are living at or below poverty need an affordable and easy way to keep their appointments and get the services they need in a way that does not cause hardship and makes them feel just like everyone else.”  Feel free to tweak 🙂

For your Prototype Plan, think about how you can test the various facets of your ideas.  What will you test and how?  Where will you test your ideas?  Who will you test them with?  And when?

IDEA 1 ( Alex)

Idea 1 consists of a system utilizing both an app/website as well as a receptionist/ transportation coordinator. The system will begin when a patient first schedules an appointment. The receptionist will as if they have a Smartphone. If yes the receptionist will ask if they would prefer to get text message and use an app or to receive a phone call. If no it will automatically be a phone call. A few weeks before the appointment there will be a confirmation text or call. With the text, the patient will confirm the appointment and answer if they need transportation help. If yes it will direct them to a webpage or app in which they can enter all of the relevant information such as appointment time, pickup location, insurance information, budget,number of passengers etc. The app will put out all of the relevant transportation options including cost and duration of trip and the patient will select and schedule the method of their choice. If the patient does not have a smartphone or does not choose to use the app a phone call will be made and a receptionist or transportation coordinator will enter the information into the system and book the transportation for them. Patients will also receive a push notification or automated phone call the morning of their appointment reminding them of their pickup time and method of transportation.

 

Entice	Enter	Engage	Exit	Extend
Patients are enticed to the system when they first become a patient or try and book an appointment after the program is implemented. Receptionists,  Doctors, and transportation coordinators advertise this service and there are pamphlets in waiting rooms and information online.	Patients enter this service when they are first onboarded into the system. When they book an appointment they can choose to opt out, opt in, or have it on an appointment basis. When patients are asked to confirm an appointment, they enter when they click YES they need transportation help	Patients engage when they enter all of their relevant information and select and schedule a transportation option for their appointment.	Patients Exit the program after they successfully make it to their doctor’s appointment and make it back to their desired destination.	Extend occurs when patients tell their family and friends about the system and encourage them to take advantage of it.

 

Idea 2 – Partnership with Uber/Lyft ( Dan and Cole)

Idea 2 involves St. Joseph Health System developing a partnership with Uber.  While prices associated with Uber may be a concern, the flexibility and readiness that Uber provides will have enough of a positive impact that SJHS will overcome its current transportation problem.  Some barriers to developing such a partnership include billing; while Medicaid patients are covered for transportation in most situations, the amount organizations are reimbursed varies between states.  Another issue is the fact that SJHS patients and clients may not have the ability to readily access technology such as smartphones used to request Uber rides.  The benefits that having clients use Uber affords healthcare organizations outweighs these barriers, and there are even ways to overcome these barriers.  At the following URL, https://tinyurl.com/n4rthzp, a healthcare expert discusses the various ways organizations have undertaken partnerships with Uber and Lyft to overcome problems with transportation.  There is an opportunity for SJHS to give patients access to requesting Ubers on their website or through phone calls with receptionists.  Our team will conduct further research into the intricacies of billing regulations and any other liabilities or other issues associated with SJHS partnering with a transportation company such as Uber.

 

Entice	Enter	Engage	Exit	Extend
While scheduling appointments, patients will be made aware of SJHS’s partnership with Uber and the benefits associated with using Uber.	Patients will have easy access requesting Uber rides through their smartphones, through the SJHS website, or through phone calls with SJHS employees.	Uber drivers will be knowledgeable of the reimbursement policies so that rider and driver feel in control of the situation.	Uber allows SJHS clients to leave reviews, similar to regular Uber users.  SJHS should look to develop a survey or platform to assess patient satisfaction.	Assessing a decrease in missed appointments and word of mouth will validate the usefulness of a SJHS-Uber partnership.

 

IDEA 3 – Fleet of vans/ shuttles  (Helen and Joe)

Idea 3 involves St. Joseph Health System to provide shuttle services to their clients. The idea is that clients would request a ride from designated pick-up and drop-off locations either online or through the phone. Clients will enter location, date and time, and how many people are riding with them. SJHS would then use its own vehicles to supply rides for its demanding customers. The designated locations can imitate the transpo bus stops or SJHS can cater more towards its clients by using its database to find the ideal drop-off/ pick-up zones. Although resources are tight, it could be a worthwhile investment for SJHS to buy one or two vans as it will pay off more for their patients to get to their appointments than to lose money for every missed appointment. Similar to Notre Dame’s SafeBouND system, volunteers could be in constant contact with a dispatcher for safety, legal, and logistical reasons.  

 

Entice	Enter	Engage	Exit	Extend
Patients are enticed to examine this service at the time that they schedule an appointment.	Patients enter this service when they confirm that they are in need of transportation services in order to get to an appointment.	Patients engage this service when they schedule a pick up by a hospital van/ bus, and fill out all required information to be picked up. They are then picked up from a designated location and taken to their appointment.	Patients Exit the service after they successfully make it to and from their appointment.	Patients extend this service by spreading word of it to friends, family, and other people in the community. Through this, the service will become more popular and utilized, allowing all patients to make it to appointments.

 

Really great job with synthesizing your research!  This week we will begin working through how to make physical manifestations of ideas.

 

Guiding Design Principles
Design Goal	A solution must be sustainable from a financial and social perspective People who face transportation problems cannot be defined as one specific demographic All users must be treated uniquely because there are many reasons why someone may lack access to transportation A solution must be flexible in order to cater to the needs of each specific user Functionally, solution must be able to deliver patient from point A to point B and back in an efficient and timely manner
User Perceptions	A solution to the transportation challenges of low income patients is very significant to their well being Patients often miss appointments due to lack of transportation and a solution would highly increase their health, the population health and well being The user wants the service to be cost effective as well as time efficient The service needs to be flexible in order to accommodate patients with children, work schedules as well as the need to stop other places to pick up prescriptions etc. There are no aesthetic aspects involves, but the vehicles should have minimal labeling as patients might not want to advertise to neighbors and others that they have transportation issues.
Problems, Needs, Opportunities	Problem- With such a large and diverse client population, SJHS struggles to provide transportation effectively to each of their clients Problem- It is difficult to provide a standardized transportation service that accommodates each patient’s unique needs Need- It appears SJHS will need to initiate a partnership with another organization to provide transportation Opportunity- utilize another organization’s vehicles for efficiency and to lower the burden on SJHS Opportunity- develop a partnership with a private company that provides personalized transportation for some type of compensation
Functional Attributes	A flexible service that can accommodate all kinds of patients and has transportation hours that work with different patient’s life schedules Standardize high quality of transportation service Transportation service needs to be  able to help those patients who are immobile and perhaps in need of slight medical service just to leave his/her residency Transportation schedule must have times for patients who have work hours Understand that most of the target patients are elderly which means that there may need to be taught how to use certain technology if the transportation service uses an application or phone call system
Constraints	This project will be confined to only St. Joseph Health System patients and services.   It will be confined to low income patients and patients with transportation issues. There are funding and staffing limitations as SJHS does not currently have a budget for transportation or receive federal funding. SJHS does not currently have any transportation capital such as vans or cars to use. There are legal limitations and liability issues as it pertains to using volunteers and assisting patients. This project must be able to handle a large capacity of patients with variable volume.