MediCom

Role:

UX researcher and designer, UI designer, Graphic designer, Interactive designer.

10/2022 - 2/2023; Individual Work.

Mobile Medical Help App - Making life easier for US international students

Goal

It is challenging for international students to make proper use of the US medical services and healthcare resources, so the idea for MediCom was born.

MediCom provides online reservation services, a user reviews community, and individual-based medical support.

Locate In-network Medical Providers
Health Insurance Documentation
Community Reviews (UGC)
Policy Tutorial
Bills and Claims Management

Features

Research Report

Click for Full Research Report & References

2. Surveys & Interviews

Participants:

7 potential users of MediCom(Interview)
5 potential users of MediCom(Card-sorting)

Topic:

Activity centered around an app designed to enhance the lives of international students. This exercise shed light on a pressing need for better support in the realm of medical services.

Takeaway:

While apps for dining, travel, and education are all in good shape, there's a glaring gap when it comes to health services. These real-world experiences paint a clear picture of our collective desire for an app like MediCom. It's time to reframe the healthcare journey, making appointment scheduling hassle-free and helping us locate in-network hospitals with ease. And, as an added bonus, let's demystify dental and vision checkups without causing financial strain. MediCom is poised to step up and be the app that changes the game!

Card-sorting results

Click to see the full results

Process:

I had a close card sorting with 5 participants. I applied 5 categories and 23 card options for my characters. For the introduction part, I entered:

“I want to create an app that can help with international students' lives in the US. The list below shows some features that could be included in my project. Please pull them into the categories that you think best describe them. This would not take long. Thank you for participating.”

The categories options focus on the degree of necessity for the app content I intended to create. The cards describe elements that could be used for the content building of the app. I did the card sorting with the online tool Maze.com.

Key findings:

All 5 participants find medical assistance and law consultancy NECESSARY.

4 out of 5 think academic career advising, emergency agent, student identity issue assistance, and local food recommendations are necessary for an app that can help with international students’ lives.
4 out of 5 do not care if the app has college student government information.
Compared with recommendations like traveling, hair & nails, local attractions, and movie theater, most of the characters prefer academic advising, housing, local convenience stores/groceries, public transportation, and public utility.

The Knowledge Gap

between International Students and the US Medical Services

For students with a J-1 visa, their insurance benefits, co-pay, and deductible are different from those with an F-1 visa. When they pay for health insurance, the fee is included in the tuition at the beginning of each semester/quarter. So, many students do not have a chance to log in to the official website of their contracting health insurance company until they really are in a medical emergency. They are not clear about what the insurance they bought covers or how much they need to pay for their medical visits.

In fact, most companies that provide international healthcare plan does not provide an effective webpage for students to learn how to safely schedule an appointment and pay for their parts. Therefore, researching online seems just as inefficient as making a tedious phone call.

Problems international students could have:

If the medical center they visit is not in a contract with their insurance plan, they might need to pay fully in advance and then make claims to their insurance company to redeem their money(usually within 30 days).

There are possibilities that the insurance company does not recognize the medical service they received and refuses to process their claims.

Some international students might miss the paper check sent to their mailbox and accidentally default on their payment.

Some international students feel challenged dealing with health insurance and choose to pay for visits on their own.

3. (I Love) User experience Design

User Journey

I analyzed how students interact with university health programs under two different conditions with or without MediCom.

As international student usually can not access helps from families, they themselves carry the burden of their own medical needs for most of their time abroad. For freshmen or first-year students, they would fall into various mistakes while seeking medical help. The unfamiliar healthcare structure and a new environment can usually cause the ineffectiveness of international student medical support and misleading of patients’ intentions.

The satisfaction rate can increase by at least 45% during the process of using Medicom in terms of levels of convenience, efficiency and tolerance of mistakes.

The app function focuses on the conveniences of scheduling a medical service appointment, by simplifying the process of doing research online, making phone calls, and checking bills. Along with that, the client reviews section and community tab are aiming to create networking between each international student, resolving their concerns of unfamiliarity and isolation.