Turning a fragmented, transactional portal into a calm, guided experience that keeps high-risk seniors connected to their care team, and out of the ER.
ChenMed serves high-risk, predominantly senior patients under a value-based model. The business succeeds by keeping people healthy, not by billing more visits. The existing portal worked against that: dense menus, clinical jargon, and no sense of what to do next.
Patients couldn't reliably find appointments, message their care team, or understand their care plan. Disengagement led to missed follow-ups and avoidable ER visits, exactly the outcome the model exists to prevent.
Shadowed care teams and interviewed patients to map the real coordination journey, not the one the org chart implied.
Shifted from a record-viewer to a guided companion that answers one question first: what should I do next?
Designed senior-first components (large type, high contrast, generous targets) and validated them in moderated testing.
Rolled out in phases, instrumenting engagement and tying it to downstream health outcomes.
Replaced the navigation grid with a single prioritized action, so the most important thing is never more than a glance away.
18px minimum type, 44px targets, AA contrast, and never color alone. Accessibility set the defaults, not the exceptions.
Surfaced the named care team with presence and one-tap messaging, so reaching out felt human, not like filing a ticket.
Engagement became a leading indicator of health outcomes, and the redesigned portal is now the default coordination surface across ChenMed centers.
The biggest lever wasn't a feature. It was restraint. Every element we removed made the next decision clearer for someone managing a serious condition. If I returned, I'd push further on proactive, care-team-initiated nudges.
Post-loss coordination app for families navigating logistics after a loss.