Defining the Scope

Project Goals

Diving Deep Into the Sponsor's Background and Objectives

Working as part of a team of four, this was an academic collaboration with Eleanor Health (EH), an addiction care center committed to supporting individuals affected by addiction in leading fulfilling lives. EH is dedicated to revolutionizing the quality, delivery, and accessibility of addiction treatment and mental health services. Our core focus was on exploring several key questions:

Defining the Scope

Secondary Research

Beginning with Project with Detailed Secondary Research Resources

We were not allowed to engage directly with patients. We were provided with valuable resources such as the Patient Experience Journey Map from Addiction Policy Forum (APF), which highlighted the detailed stages of the patient journey from the onset of symptoms through treatment and recovery. This resource offered firsthand patient quotes on both "bright spots" and "pain points," providing deep insights into the challenges faced by those seeking addiction treatment.

Key findings from the secondary research include:

• The age of onset for Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) ranges from 5 to 19 years, with an average of 14 years (APF).
• Young adults often perceive substance use as part of identity exploration, underestimating its harms (SAMHSA).
• Certain groups, such as those with co-occurring mental or developmental disorders, are at higher risk for substance misuse (SAMHSA).
• Protective programs in childhood, such as behavior modification and social-emotional skills training, have lasting effects into young adulthood (SAMHSA).
• If a patient seeks help and does not receive it on the first attempt, they are highly likely to not reach out again. This is due to factors such as stigma, denial, fear of judgment, and the belief that their problem isn't serious enough—issues that are further exacerbated by a negative initial experience. (Probst et al., 2015)
• Without strong initial therapeutic connections in virtual sessions, loneliness can set in, hindering recovery. (Hogg et al., 2023; Békés et al., 2021)

Defining the Scope

Business Model

Mapping the Ecosystem: Business Model and Stakeholder Insights

The process began with mapping out Eleanor Health's current business model, where we identified crucial elements like partners, activities, customer segments, and revenue streams. This initial step gave us a clear framework to understand how the organization operates.

We then focused on stakeholders, with each team member creating individual stakeholder maps. By merging our insights and refining the map together, we created a comprehensive ecosystem map. This map illustrated the relationships and pathways between internal and external stakeholders, including insurance companies, treatment centers, pharmacies, EH staff, and the broader community. It was through this collaborative effort that we were able to pinpoint the most effective routes for designing our solutions.

Defining the Scope

Current User Journey

Current State Journey Mapping: Identifying Opportunities for Change

• Prospective Member Journey: Contact with pre-members is initiated through direct-to-customer marketing and organic search, references from healthcare providers, and payor outreach via lists of potential candidates.
• When the pre-member reaches out to EH, their Access team verifies their eligibility for treatment. Criteria for eligibility include restrictions on age, location, type of addiction, and health insurance.
• Assessment and Treatment: The Access team at EH assesses the pre-member's condition and schedules immediate appointments or treatments, at which point they become a member. Their goal is to schedule first appointments within 2-3 days of intake.
• EH set themselves apart from other addiction care centers by not charging pre-members before their first appointment - this lowers the entry barrier making it more likely for individuals to take the first step toward recovery.
• However, this may have contributed to pre-members having no incentive to start the treatment, hence leading to the high number of first appointment no-shows.
• Member Touchpoints: Members interact with multiple touchpoints in their journey to recovery including community recovery partners and support programs, telehealth platforms, EH staff, healthcare providers, and financial services.
• Long-Term Recovery: Recovery is a life-long journey, even after formal addiction treatment ends. Members can remain in recovery through therapy, support groups, and giving back to the community.

One of EH's biggest challenges was the fact that there was a limited number of staff in the Access Team creating a bottleneck in the path from a pre-member becoming a member.
Another was the high number of no-shows to the first appointment.

Defining the Scope

Ideation

Generating and Prioritizing Prototype Ideas

Based on the member journey above, we used a brainstorming technique called Crazy 8s. Our team brainstormed 32 creative ideas based on problems from the perspectives of pre-members and members. We voted on the top 8 to focus on. These ideas were mapped on an impact-effort matrix to prioritize feasibility and potential impact based on Eleanor Health's resources.

The top 8 ideas were:

Chosen Idea: Option to Reserve Place in Line

One of EH's biggest challenges was the fact that there was a limited number of staff in the Access Team creating a bottleneck in the path from a pre-member becoming a member.

Given our limited timeline, we as a team made a unanimous decision to explore idea 1: option to reserve place in line as we believed it would take the least amount of effort by EH and would create the highest impact, especially since EH's biggest issue was a small Access team, limiting the number of pre-members signing up for treatment.

It was the most feasible and viable option.

Defining the Scope

Future User journey

Future State Journey Mapping: Re-imagining the Path

In the future-state journey, we envisioned two clear pathways for prospective members to establish contact with EH.

In this journey map, we zoomed in on the part of the pre-member's journey between initiating contact and going to their first appointment. For each section, we considered the kinds of emotions that a pre-member may experience - some of which were informed by EH based on past experiences. The goal was to seamlessly integrate a nervous or scared pre-member into the recovery program by building hope and making them eager to attend their first session.

Defining the Scope

Phone Strategies

Web Strategies

Strategy 1: Automated Callbacks and Pre-Appointment Check-ins

EH faces challenges due to a limited number of staff managing phone calls, leading to unanswered calls when volumes are high. Research indicates that individuals with AUD or SUD who fail to receive help on their first attempt are less likely to try again due to stigma, denial, fear of judgment, or the perception that their condition is not serious enough. Each missed call represents a lost opportunity to connect a pre-member with necessary treatment. To address this, we proposed the below features.

Defining the Scope

Website Strategies

Strategy 2: Eligibility Verification Forms for Patients on EH Website

To streamline intake and handle busy phone lines, we proposed a website-based eligibility and booking system, integrated into EH's existing website.

Defining the Scope

UI Design

Presenting Visuals

1. Website Enhancements

The new landing page outlines the steps involved in starting care with EH and has a call-to-action section directing users to the form. The design incorporates EH's existing visual identity, including its colors, fonts, and graphics, to ensure consistency with the overall branding (we couldn't get licenses to use the website's fonts in the visuals, but recommended that EH use them if they implement our ideas).

2. Eligibility Check Form

The form is extremely easy to understand and complete with 4 filters. This would help filter out candidates that don’t qualify for their treatment, saving the time they would spend in calling and waiting to get in touch with EH.

Location

age

Type of addiction disorder

insurance provider

Users go through the filters one by one. If they don't qualify at any point during the form, they are immediately redirected to a page that informs them that EH cannot support them at this time. This page tries to deliver the message respectfully, providing actionable resources and helplines that could assist them instead.

respectful rejection

3. For Eligible Pre-members

Individuals that are eligible for treatment can schedule their introductory call with EH by providing personal details and reserving their spot by booking a slot on Calendly.

This form essentially seeks to collect the information that would usually be discussed over phone calls during the pre-member intake phase. Internal research by EH has indicated that many pre-members express annoyance and frustration while spelling out their names, email addresses, and insurance details over phone calls. The booking form is a convenient way to overcome these pain points and reduce time on task.

To maintain safety in collecting health insurance information, EH should use HIPAA-compliant form builders such as Typeform or Jotform. To do the booking Calendly which is a convenient and commonly used option to book sessions. Once the pre-member books the call, they are notified that the call has been successfully booked, and they also get an email which contains a calendar invite and a link for the call.

Defining the Scope