Non-Emergency Medical Transportation @ BJC Healthcare

Many patients struggle to secure safe and consistent transportation for non-emergency medical services. As a result, health systems face additional costs for "no-shows" to scheduled appointments and patients do not receive the care they need.

In partnership with an Interaction Design class at the Washington University Sam Fox School of Design, our team conducted direct interviews and observation. The students then developed concepts to address the observed pain points.

We evaluated each concept for feasibility and viability, using personas combined with available quantitative data in order to plan a proof of concept. After vetting with legal, leadership and finance, we launched a one week test shuttling patients home from their medical appointments and collecting feedback. As you might imagine, patients appreciated the level of service and clinical staff shared that patients who were typically inconsistent with attendance did keep their appointments during our testing period, knowing a reliable ride home was waiting for them. The results and learnings were synthesized and transitioned to hospital operations teams for further refinement.

My role was project manager and service designer. I coordinated research for students and facilitated evaluation of the concepts for further testing. We also modified the Business Model Canvas in order to plan and communicate our proof of concept design. I'm a big fan of modifying tools in order to meet the needs of the context and the team. Our stakeholders found it to be a helpful way of understanding our plan and service model.