Modernized a legacy care coordination system into a cloud and

mobile platform - improving real-time communication by 80%

and increasing task completion efficiency by 34%.

Designing a Mobile-First Healthcare Platform for Real-Time Care Delivery

Summary

Healthcare delivery has rapidly shifted beyond clinical settings into patients’ homes - but the tools supporting care teams hadn’t kept up.

The original platform was a legacy, desktop-first system used by care coordinators to manage scheduling, patient records, and staff logistics. It was difficult to use, fragmented across modules, and inaccessible to frontline workers in the field.

This created inefficiencies, communication gaps, and increased risk in care delivery.

Background

Home care workers and coordinators relied on disconnected systems, manual processes, and delayed communication.

Critical information (scheduling, care plans, medications) was siloed
Care workers relied on printed notes that could be lost or outdated
Coordinators lacked visibility into real-time field updates
The system was not optimized for mobile use in active care environments

Impact

Increased administrative burden
Reduced care accuracy
Delayed updates to patient care plans

Role: Senior UX Designer

I worked across the full product lifecycle - from research to implementation - on a platform used by care coordinators and home care workers.

Responsibilities included:

Leading user research and synthesis
Facilitating cross-functional workshops
Defining user flows and interaction patterns
Designing and prototyping end-to-end experiences
Contributing to design system components
Translating designs into front-end code for implementation alignment

Users & Context

Home Care Workers

Care providers travelling to client homes to perform tasks

Needs: Clear task list, ability to work with no connectivity, remote schedule changes, supplies ordering

Care Coordinators

Client care coordinators working in the office

Needs: up to date information, digital file processing, OCR scanning

Clients

Clients receiving home care services as patients

Needs: Ability to change appointment schedule, self service medication refills, appointment reminders

Approach

We adopted a mobile-first strategy, designing for the most constrained and critical context first: care workers in the field.

Key activities:

Conducted interviews and contextual inquiry with care workers and coordinators
Performed a heuristic evaluation of the legacy system
Mapped end-to-end service journeys to identify breakdowns
Rapidly prototyped and validated new workflows
Built front-end components (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) to test feasibility and improve developer handoff

Research & Insights

We interviewed 9 participants (care coordinators and personal support workers) to understand workflows, pain points, and constraints in real-world environments.

Key insights:

Care workers lacked real-time access to updated care plans
Notes were often captured on paper and lost or delayed
Coordinators struggled to track visit completion and updates
Users were concerned about adopting a complex new system

These insights highlighted the need for a simple, reliable, mobile-first experience that reduced cognitive load and supported real-time communication.

Design System & Component Strategy

To support consistency across mobile and cloud platforms, I contributed to a scalable design system aligned with both user needs and engineering constraints.

Key contributions:

Defined reusable components:
- Task lists with status states
- Patient and visit cards
- Medication tracking modules
- Mobile-optimized form inputs
Established visual standards:
- Accessible color tokens and contrast ratios
- Typography optimized for quick scanning in clinical environments
Designed interaction patterns:
- Offline states and sync behavior
- Status indicators for critical actions

I worked closely with engineering to ensure components translated directly into reusable front-end patterns.

Bridging Design & Front-End

To reduce the gap between design and development, I translated key components into production-ready front-end code.

This included:

Building reusable UI components using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
Validating responsive behavior across devices
Testing real-world scenarios (offline use, long-form data, edge cases)
Ensuring design fidelity during implementation

This approach improved collaboration, reduced ambiguity in handoff, and accelerated delivery.

Accessibility Considerations

Accessibility was critical in a healthcare context where usability directly impacts outcomes.

Key considerations:

Designed for low-vision and high-stress environments:
- High contrast ratios
- Large tap targets for mobile use
Reduced cognitive load:
- Clear hierarchy and scannable layouts
- Progressive disclosure of complex data
Improved system clarity:
- Visible task states and confirmations
- Error prevention and recovery patterns

These decisions ensured the product was usable in fast-paced, real-world care scenarios.

The Design

User Flows

We designed a connected ecosystem of tools:

For Care Coordinators (Cloud Platform):

Unified dashboard for scheduling, staffing, and patient management
Real-time visibility into care updates and visit completion

or Care Workers (Mobile App):

Mobile-first interface for viewing care plans and completing tasks
Ability to log notes, track medications, and order supplies in real time
Offline functionality with sync capability

This reduced fragmentation and created a single source of truth across the system.

Validation

The solution was tested across 5 clinical environments with real users in the field.

Feedback informed iterative improvements and helped refine workflows before broader rollout.

Concept Design

Before vs After

Before:

Dense, table-heavy desktop screens
Small text, poor hierarchy
Not usable in the field
Requires printing

After:

Clean, mobile-first task interface
Large touch targets
Scannable patient info
Designed for real-time updates

Outcome & Impact

Improved scheduling accuracy and staff coordination.
Reduced manual errors in care delivery and documentation.
Boosted caregiver confidence and ease-of-use with a streamlined mobile experience.
Increased overall client satisfaction and regulatory compliance.
Decreased time to complete tasks.

Our mobile app was implemented to support home care workers in the field, enabling them to access schedules, update care details, and store information offline. This approach improved mobile task completion by 34% and reduced cognitive load in mobile workflows (measured across field trials in 5 clinical environments).

As a result, we achieved an 80% improvement in real-time communication and a 60% boost in client satisfaction, greatly enhancing caregiver efficiency and the overall quality of care provided.

“This renewal reflects our continued confidence in the platform’s ability to enable operational efficiencies and long-term value,” said Andrew Prahalad, Vice-President of IT at CBI Home Health. “It allows us to shift from implementation to optimization — unlocking the full strategic potential of operating on a national digital platform.”

Reflection

This project reinforced the importance of designing for complex service ecosystems, especially in healthcare where fragmented tools can directly impact care quality.

By combining user-centered design with system thinking and front-end implementation, we were able to deliver a solution that was both usable and scalable.

One key challenge was balancing speed of documentation with clinical accuracy - future iterations could explore automation or voice input to further reduce manual effort.