Background
Alignment Healthcare is a senior-focused Medicare and Medicaid healthcare provider dedicated to improving healthcare access and outcomes for older adults.
A few years ago, we designed and developed the original Alignment Member Portal, ( ← image on the left) providing members with digital access to their health information and basic functionalities.
While this initial version improved member engagement, it still relied heavily on call center support for tasks that could be automated and streamlined.
To address these challenges, last year we embarked on a major enhancement initiative to refine the portal’s self-service capabilities and reduce call center dependency.
This new version (image below ↓ ) is currently in development and not yet in production, but it is designed to provide a more seamless, efficient experience for members.
Solution - Enhanced Member Portal
The Alignment Member Portal is being upgraded a centralized, user-friendly digital platform offering a wide range of self-service features, intuitive and better explained plan and benefits information. The portal aimed to streamline member interactions, increase portal adoption by 40% by providing easy access to essential healthcare services and information..
Key Features
- Black Card Benefits, Wallet Allowances, and Healthy Rewards Programs: Clearly explains and enables self-service access to Black Card benefits, spending allowances, and Healthy Rewards incentives.
- Black Card Benefits Balances: Real-time access to available Black Card benefits, including spending balance and usage history.
- OTC Shopping: Convenient ordering of over-the-counter (OTC) and Grocery products directly through the portal.
- Detailed Plan Information: Comprehensive visibility into health plan coverage, benefits, supplemental benefits, services and eligibility details.
- On Line Appointment Scheduling: Members can book and manage medical appointments online, reducing reliance on agent-assisted scheduling.
- Scheduling Transportation: Easy booking of non-emergency medical transportation for eligible members.
- Medication List, Prescription Reminders, Pharmacy Search: A personalized list of prescribed medications, with refill reminders and interaction alerts.
- Intuitive Provider Search: Advanced search functionality to help members find in-network providers based on specialty, location, and availability.
- Self Service Provider Change: Members can changes providers digitally without needing to call customer support.
- Self Service Address, Demographics & Preferences Updates: Secure and efficient online updates for contact details, address change and communication preferences.
- Lab Information Access: Quick retrieval of lab results and test history for informed decision-making.
- Authorizations & Claims Information: Real-time status updates on prior authorizations and claims processing.
- Easy Access to Member Resources & Files: Centralized repository for member-specific documents, plan resources, and educational materials.
My UI/UX Leadership Contribution
As a UI/UX leader, I played a pivotal role in both the original UI /UX design of the Alignment Member Portal and its recent major redesign to improve actionable self-service functionality. My contributions included:
- Conducting in-depth member call listening analysis to capture real-time member challenges and identify recurring pain points in the portal’s usability.
- Leveraging AVA CRM system call data analytics to quantify call drivers, uncovering the highest-volume inquiries related to plan details, provider searches, and benefit and supplemental benefit information requests, Black Card Balances inquiries, Wallet confusions, referrals and authorization status request, claim inquiries, appointment scheduling and rescheduling help and more.
- Using data-driven insights to drive UX design improvements, prioritizing self-service features that would have the greatest impact in reducing call center volume.
- Defining UX best practices to ensure an intuitive, accessible, and senior-friendly interface.
- Collaborating with cross-functional teams to streamline member workflows, reducing friction in tasks like provider search, plan selection, and appointment scheduling.
- Optimizing information architecture to make critical healthcare details easily discoverable, minimizing confusion for seniors.
- Ensuring WCAG accessibility compliance, making the portal user-friendly for individuals with disabilities.
- Guiding design decisions based on data insights, improving engagement, and increasing adoption of self-service tools.
- Mentoring the design team to drive innovation in healthcare UX.
Key Takeaways
- Data alignment with business goals ensured buy-in and impact-driven design.
- Prototyping and testing early saved costly rework and improved adoption.
- Cross-functional collaboration was crucial in delivering a seamless experience.
Lessons Learned
- Stakeholder alignment is key to a smooth development process. Early engagement with executives, support teams, and developers has helped refine priorities and set realistic expectations, reducing the risk of major pivots later.
- User education and onboarding need to be planned alongside design. Even with a more intuitive experience, initial user testing revealed that onboarding guides, tooltips, and proactive messaging will be essential for successful adoption post-launch.
- Scalability must be a core consideration before launch. Designing a modular, future-proof system has been a priority to prevent the need for constant redesigns as business needs evolve. The challenge is balancing immediate goals with long-term flexibility.
- Early feedback drives iteration, but real impact will be measured post-launch. While usability testing has validated key design choices, the true success of the portal will depend on post-launch analytics and user engagement metrics, requiring a solid plan for continuous improvement.