Bridging Gaps for Inclusive & Affordable Healthcare

My Role: Strategy, lead UI/UX design, user research

Highlights

🏥 Championing Affordable Care
One Medical’s mission is to make quality care more affordable and accessible for all.” Recognizing that our membership fee wasn’t affordable for all, I saw an opportunity to address this pain point through data-driven design.

📊 Disparity Discovered
Data revealed 62% of members were predominantly white, highlighting healthcare's role in perpetuating systemic racism.

💸 Flexible Payments Proposed
Explored introducing flexible payment options to make One Medical more affordable for black and brown communities.

🔍 User Research Insights
Surveys showed strong preference for split payments, especially monthly, to boost affordability and align with familiar subscription models.

📈 Promising Results
In the survey, 64% would try One Medical with split payments. Monthly outperformed quarterly by 2.4x.

🤝 Collaborative Buy-In
Partnered with product manager to gain cross-functional approval for a payment options experiment, demonstrating collective commitment to accessible healthcare.

⚖️ Evaluating Solutions
SWOT analysis compared building our own payment option vs. using Afterpay. Ultimately chose Afterpay for its strengths in boosting adoption, generating upfront revenue, and mitigating risk.

🎉 Successful Launch
Introduced Afterpay to 100% of registration experience, leading to a 5% lift in member registration.

Initiating Change: Improving Access to quality care

Driven by One Medical’s mission to “make quality care more affordable and accessible for all,” I questioned why my Filipino-Mexican family and community weren't part of One Medical.

Data analysis, member interviews, and office visits revealed a stark disparity: 62% of our members were predominantly white, exposing healthcare's role in perpetuating systemic racism. This led me to ask: How can we make One Medical more affordable for black and brown communities?

With our $199 annual membership fee being a substantial part of our revenue, eliminating it wasn't feasible. So I wondered, what if we introduced flexible payment options?

User Research: Unveiling Preferences for Flexible Payments

To understand the impact of split payments on people's likelihood to join One Medical, we surveyed 100 Americans.

Results showed that 66% were likely, 34% were unlikely to join, based on our current state.

To gauge the impact of flexible payments on people's likelihood to join One Medical, we conducted two follow-up surveys.

Insights

  • Survey 1

    • Quarterly billing was 2x more popular than annual

      • 51% preferred 4 interest-free installments of $49.95

      • 26% chose a one-time payment of $199

      • 23% would not join

    • Quarterly option increased willingness to join, with "Neither" responses dropping from 34% to 23.2%

    • Key reasons for preferring installments:

      • Affordability

      • No added costs

      • Familiarity with subscription models

  • Survey 2

    • The research revealed a strong preference for split payments (64%), with monthly billing emerging as the most popular option.

      • 34% chose 12 interest-free installments of $16.60 (billed monthly)

      • 30% selected a one-time payment of $199.00 (billed yearly)

      • 14% preferred 4 interest-free installments of $49.95 (billed quarterly)

      • 22% would not join

    • Monthly outperformed quarterly by 2.4x. Here’s why:

      • Smaller, more affordable payments

      • Monthly budgeting is more familiar than quarterly

These insights guided our decision to introduce flexible payment plans to make healthcare more accessible and affordable.

Quotes from survey respondents:

“It is less money to pay up front. It makes it feel like a smaller investment when payments are smaller.”

“I have a lot of little subscriptions, so this just makes it easier to afford and pay for all.”

“The $49.95 every 3 months would be like a typical bill I would have to pay.”

Gaining Buy-In: Championing Affordable Healthcare

I created a deck highlighting the latest insights alongside a prior diary study emphasizing the annual fee's lack of affordability for all.

Collaborating with my product manager, we secured approval from design leadership, legal, finance, and marketing to run a payment options experiment - a testament to our collective commitment to accessible healthcare.

Evaluating Solutions: Afterpay vs. Building Our Own

I created a SWOT analysis that compared leveraging Afterpay versus building our own payment option. Afterpay's strengths in boosting adoption, generating upfront revenue, and mitigating risk made it the clear choice.

You can see the analysis below.

Option 1: Afterpay

    1. Price Barrier Removal: No upfront credit card or cash required, boosting adoption (22% historical increase).

    2. Upfront Payments: Immediate revenue generation with payment collected at the point of purchase.

    3. Easy Transition for Users: Seamless integration for existing Afterpay users; can be set as the preferred payment option.

    4. 0 Interest: Attracts people with the appeal of interest-free payments.

    5. Built-in Late Fee: $8 late fee and automated reminders minimize delinquencies.

    6. UI Efficiency: Reduced UI work, as there's no need to create a separate payment options page.

    7. Trustworthiness: Trusted by prominent companies, minimizing perceived risk.

    8. Risk Mitigation: Afterpay assumes risks, such as chargebacks and fraud, reducing business exposure.

    1. Payment Options Limitation: Limited to 4 payments, though they align with traditional pay periods (bi-weekly).

    2. Friction in User Onboarding: Users must create an Afterpay account during registration, causing potential drop-offs.

    3. Non-Customizable Flow: Lack of flexibility in customizing the user experience.

    4. Target Audience Limitation: Primarily appeals to younger demographics (Millennials and Gen Z).

    5. Spending Cap Risk: Users spending significantly may face caps on Afterpay usage.

    6. Merchant Costs: Incurs a 4% merchant cost for utilizing Afterpay services.

  • Renewals Flow Integration: Potential to extend Afterpay use to subscription renewals.

    1. Dependency on Afterpay Design Changes: Vulnerability to alterations in Afterpay's design, necessitating adjustments on the company's end.

    2. Implementation Challenges: Difficulty and potential costs associated with the development effort, requiring strategic engineering involvement.

    3. Impulse Purchase Risk: Low initial friction may lead to higher instances of members backing out before completing full payments.

    4. Customer Service Concerns: Potential threats arising from negative Afterpay customer service reviews.

Option 2: Build our own payment option

    1. Full Customization/ Flexibility: Complete control over the payment solution, allowing tailored adjustments.

    2. Frictionless Experience: Streamlined user flow for increased ease of use.

    3. Brand Ownership: Reinforces brand identity and fosters customer trust.

    4. No Merchant Fees: Eliminates the financial burden of merchant fees.

    1. Design Intensiveness: Requires significant design effort and resources for implementation.

    2. Credit Card Dependency: Still necessitates credit card usage, potentially limiting user base.

    3. Payment Uncertainty: Lack of guaranteed payment unless consequences for late payments are implemented.

    1. Diverse Use Cases: Explore various applications, such as free trials, pediatrics, renewals, and enterprise-to-consumer conversions.

    2. Leverage Third-Party Options: Utilize popular payment gateways like Amazon Pay, PayPal, Apple Pay, etc., to reduce failed payments and improve user convenience.

    1. Increased Customer Service Tickets: Potential rise in customer service inquiries, particularly related to billing concerns.

🎉 Launching Afterpay: Driving Inclusive Growth

Introducing Afterpay to 100% of our registration experience yielded a 5% lift in member registration. This success underscores the power of human-centered design in making healthcare more affordable and accessible for all communities.

By questioning the status quo and collaborating cross-functionally, we took a meaningful step towards bridging gaps and fostering inclusivity.

Ready to champion affordable healthcare together? Let's connect and explore how we can design solutions that drive positive change!