Redesigning the e-Healthcare ecosystem for India's largest health platform

Three capabilities at the heart of this redesign

Reconnecting the consult ecosystem meant solving three things that any modern healthcare-AI product still has to get right: getting both sides onboarded with almost no friction, letting people and automation work as one team with the human in command, and giving patients real control over the recommendations they receive.

Mixed-methods research, double-diamond framing

I followed the double-diamond problem–solution approach to define the real problems faced by 1mg's users, through extensive user interviews, surveys, and field visits to nearby hospitals, clinics, doctors, and patients for richer contextual inquiry. The qualitative process included:

• 80 user interviews via customer calls — a general understanding of the app's users
• 52 survey respondents through social media — reaching non-users for unbiased signal
• 20 contextual inquiries with patients at hospitals/clinics — capturing non-users' behaviour in their natural settings
• Affinity-mapping segmentation — elaborating the nuances of each user group

This synthesized into 11 personas across primary, secondary, critical, and non-user groups.

Contextual inquiry

Before mapping user tasks, I re-interviewed users to understand: the pain points of using the e-consult service; reasons for using existing platforms; beliefs, fears, expectations and attitudes toward remote and tele-consultation; the perceived difference between physical and online consultation; and the problems faced by both doctors and patients in each phase of consultation.

Competitive analysis & journey mapping

I mapped the competitive landscape of online patient–doctor consultation platforms, then built a patient journey map across the phases of online consultation — actions per phase, features, gaps and opportunities, suggested design interventions, and a mood indicator. This located precisely where the experience broke and narrowed the work to a redesign of both the patient and doctor apps.

Key insights

Redesigning the patient app and doctor app

The redesign had to serve five patient types: premium (paid), free (non-paid), users seeking a second opinion, users with multiple-speciality problems, and novice users who had never experienced remote consultation. Based on the pain points, gaps and opportunities, I finalised these features for the patient app:

• Symptom checker and an "Ask a super-specialist" option
• E-prescription available to the patient easily
• Hassle-free online booking of appointments
• Forums to check common concerns and reduce anxiety
• Audio consultation for emergencies
• A better follow-up system
• Support across mobile, desktop and tablet

Information architecture

Using card sorting, I defined the architecture of the redesigned patient app — establishing how onboarding, services, consultations and history fit together.

Wireframing & iteration

The e-consult landing page had to surface: an entry to appointment booking; an entry to forums; service information for first-time users; buttons for Ask Doctor, Ask Super-specialist, and Symptom Checker with details; omni-channel communication; past consultations for returning users; and a start-new-consultation button. I worked through twelve wireframe iterations to balance all of this.

Final landing UI

In the final design, the specialists and their detailed information are displayed before the conversation starts, to aid better decision-making by the patient. The entry point to audio consultation is introduced after a chat consultation begins, in case the patient chose chat from the initial list of services.

E-Prescription — closing the loop (doctor & patient)

A patient couldn't use a consultation to buy prescription medicines online, which limited the experience to "just consulting." On the doctor side, issuing an online prescription inside a chat was difficult, time-consuming, and often confusing for patients to decipher. The e-prescription feature cross-integrates with the pharmacy and labs verticals so the user's task flow through e-consultation is seamless and complete.

Doctor's app

The doctor flow lets a doctor: write a new Rx or check past ones; see patient details; prescribe lab tests and medicines (choosing medicine parameters while adding); add follow-up information; preview before sending; and use a collapsed view after adding a medicine.

Patient's app

Once sent, the e-prescription appears in the patient's chat interface, letting them directly order medicines or lab tests — completing the ecosystem of patient care. Patients can: select/deselect prescribed lab tests to order; view prescribed medicines with dosage instructions and check availability without opening the e-Rx; view the full e-Rx; track lab-test status in chat; and share or download the prescription for future use (with doctor details, patient details, medicine list and dosage, investigative tests and follow-ups, lifestyle/diet instructions, and a disclaimer noting the Rx was issued online without a physical check-up).

Booking-appointment feature (doctor)

On the doctor side, the booking feature lets a doctor: generate the patient's bill online from a booked appointment (handling the insurance part of services); add the services they provide so patients can see them while booking; accept or decline requests (with a required reason on decline); reschedule or cancel appointments (with a required reason on cancellation); and track patients' past records and generated bills.