The Challenge
At The Lactation Network, patients found us in all sorts of ways. Sometimes they wanted us to match them with a provider, and sometimes they already knew who they wanted to see. Providers had unique registration links to share with their patients, but those links didn’t always make it to where they were supposed to.If a patient didn’t have the right link, they came in through our main form and typed their provider’s name into a free-text field. And that’s where things got tricky. Free text meant people could type just about anything — “Jen” instead of “Jennifer Milked” — which led to errors, delays, and a lot of manual work for our ops team to sort it all out.
My Role
- Completed product discovery via stakeholder interviews and review of data for the "Preferred Provider" field.
- Documented edge cases and user pain points, like providers availability, insurance credentialing, and geography.
- Workshopped designs and clickable prototype via Figma.
- Outlined the user testing scenarios and protocol.
- Created financial models to determine the ROIÂ due to reduced operating costs with this feature.
The Outcome
This feature wasn't launched as a standalone. Instead, it was rolled into the patient-led pairing initiative. That said, check out the clickable protype below! It's pretty neat, if IÂ do say so myself.
The Solution
Fuzzy Matching
Typos happen. We've got your back. Fuzzy matching makes sure if you type "Thonda" instead of "Rhonda" that we'll still service the right results.
Limit the List
Not only does limited the fuzzy match results mitigate user fatigue and qury time, it also it more difficult for the provider network to be fully discovered by competitors.
Missing Person
What happens if a patient is searching their provider's nickname instead of their legal name? We need to allow patients to enter a provider that isn't on the list. To decentivize users from leaning into this option, and encourage them to double check their work, we'll provide a disclaimer that using the function could delay their care.
Provider or Practice?
It's a lot to ask a newborn parent to remember anything; they're keeping a tiny human alive! Users should be able to search basd on the provider ORÂ practice name, because one may be stickier to the brain than the other.
Say Cheese!
What better way to indentify someone than their mug shot? In a world of duplicate names, users can feel confident their selected provider is who they except them to be.
Restrict the Result
Providers  go on vacation and may turn off their availability. Or maybe they aren't rostered with they patient's insurance. There are many ways we could meddle with the matching of a patient to their preferred provider. While this may improve time to care (because the patient can be matched with a more fitting provider), but it could also delay care due. More patients may use the free text option.
The Output
Note: The below clickable prototype was made for specific test scenarios. Users must type in either "Alexandra Green" or "Alexis Moore" to the search bar. For more details on testing, scroll past the iFrame.
Alexandra Green, IBCLC
Step 1:Â IBCLCÂ Website
‍This is your lactation consultant. You are registering for TLN to receive care from this lactation consultant. When you're ready, go to [the clickable prototype], which represents a page during registration. You can leave this page open for reference.
‍
Step 2: Registration Page
‍Observe:
- Do users copy text from the website to paste into the search bar?
- Do users try to search using the IBCLC or the clinic name?
- Do users type out the enter IBCLC's name? Or just the first name?
- At what point in the search do users look through the search results?
- How do users feel about being shown only a limited number of search results at a time?
- Do they notice and understand the "Don't see your IBCLC?" message?
- When do users select "Confirm ____ as your IBCLC"
Step 3:Â Change selection
‍Let's say you selected the wrong IBCLC. What would you do?
Observe:
- Do users navigate to the X immediately to reset their selection?
Alexis Moore, IBCLC
Step 1:Â IBCLCÂ Website
‍This is your lactation consultant. You are registering for TLN to receive care from this lactation consultant. When you're ready, go to [the clickable prototype], which represents a page during registration. You can leave this page open for reference.
‍
Step 2: Registration Page
‍Observe:
- How does the user identify the correct Alexis Moore?
- Is the user confident they've selected the correct Alexis Moore?
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