The work described here was performed while I was in the employ of an Illinois MedTech firm of some 400 employees.

When hospitals need to create and maintain medical records for their patients, they use a third-party solution called an “EHR.” As of 2024, Epic, is the most popular EHR, holding some 42% of this market. My employer offered integrated data service solutions for EHRs. Think of these like aftermarket upgrades to your car. In 2021, their add-on to Epic enabled doctors to “clean” a patient’s records of outdated or redundant diagnoses. So why weren’t doctors using it? This is the “epic” story of how I re-imagined that powerful tool and solved its adoption issues.

The add-on identified old or irrelevant records for review and removal. The problem was low adoption: Doctors would try and use the add-on, give up, and never try again. This was because while powerful, the add-on was not a usable product.

I was brought on to redesign it for usability and solve its adoption issues.

To do this, I first became a student of the product, the market, and the personas. And, after overcoming entrenched organizational barriers to accepted UX Design methodologies, I designed and validated a worthy solution. Usability test participants showed an 85% success rate on the first try.

Then the Product Manager came to me with new requirements and a whole new design approach he had devised himself. I went along with it on condition we tested it like before.

With a meager 20% success rate, the test results for the Product Manager’s design direction spoke for themselves. My original redesign tested better by a margin of 65%.

With a fast-approaching deadline, we pivoted back to that original design and I worked the new requirements in to that approach. To do this effectively, I rigorously applied fundamental principles of Interaction Design ( IxD ). And to address the time component, I separated IxD from Visual Design so the developers could ensure the product at least BEHAVED as designed. Once we had established momentum, I was additionally able to apply a modern look and feel.

Outcomes were optimal across the board: an infinitely more usable product delivered on time and according to spec.