Transforming Telehealth

Summary

I researched and designed a unified and cohesive product experience that would both support and enhance the healthcare services Plume Health offers by optimizing onboarding, increasing member engagement, and reducing churn. Simultaneously, the new platform provided opportunity for the expansion of their services into mental and physical health beyond that of hormone therapy alone.

Problem Statement

Plume relied on a string of different third party apps and services to manage their members’ service experience. Onboarding was filled with repeated asks for the same information, jumping back and forth from one app to the next, and instances of members falling through the cracks from one onboarding step or task to the next, resulting in delays in making their first telehealth appointment with a provider.

Another important consideration was that each 3rd party provider did not always provide a mobile-optimized experience, which was a key factor in increasing the overall difficulty of interacting with Plume, as ~80% of Plume users rely on their mobile phones to access Plume’s services.

Plume also experienced a high rate of churn from members who were willing to undertake the laborious process of onboarding anew every three months as engagement with their services beyond that of a quarterly refresh of their GAHT (gender-affirming hormone therapy) medications was not sufficient enough for members to continue to pay a monthly subscription.

Plume decided to expand their service offerings into mental and physical health, to treat concerns such as anxiety, acne and smoking cessation. Simultaneously, they launched a community forum where members could safely interact with and support each other. However, overall engagement remained low and churn remained high.

Discovery

I then conducted several types of research:

Insights Discovered

• Delays or errors in entering and processing insurance information led to delays in scheduling an appointment with providers and processing claims data, which in turn led to gaps in their treatment plans and overall medication efficacy
• Members often live in areas where local access to providers and a trans-positive community was not always easy or safe to find or barely existent, increasing their sense of isolation and contributing to their reluctance to receive treatment for even basic healthcare needs such as depression, hair loss, and STI testing

Solutions Proposed

• Increase the accuracy and ease-of-submission of information by implementing card scanning and online medical insurance verification
• Provide local resources to help members discover trans-positive communities in their area

Enhancing Service

• Reduce the amount of time and effort required to complete onboarding
• Ability to schedule and attend telehealth appointments
• Ability to see a post-appointment summary and follow-up notes

Personalized Care

• Prepare providers for upcoming visits by taking in-app patient assessments ahead of time
• Let patients track their care progress over time
• Provide curated steps for each member’s unique care pathways

Engaging Users

• Prepare providers for upcoming visits by sharing patient assessments ahead of time
• Provide personalized next steps for each member’s unique care pathway(s)
• Allow patients to review their care history