Problem
Imagine being a patient waiting for time-sensitive results, but you have to dig through your message threads to find them. Meanwhile, your care team is managing multiple platforms and manually entering lab orders, while trying to provide the best care they can. This was the problem we faced when replatforming Legacy Nurx into our new tech stack, Central App. The existing labs experience wasn’t just outdated, it was creating pain points for both patients and care teams, and the solution wasn’t as simple as migrating from our legacy product.
Key Challenges
MULTIPLE PLATFORMS
Care teams handled lab orders across multiple platforms.
MANUAL LAB ORDERS
Teams had to manually generate lab orders and send them to patients through messages, creating inefficiencies.
LAB STATUS VISIBILITY
Care teams managed multiple systems to monitor lab statuses, while patients lacked visibility into their status.
DIFFICULT TO LOCATE
Lab results were mixed with other patient communications, making it difficult for patients to find critical lab information.
Discovery
STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEWS | JOURNEY MAPPING | COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Before we could jump into designing solutions, we needed to truly understand the problem. Through a series of workshops with key stakeholders—those who worked closest with the labs experience—we uncovered several pain points. The care team was overwhelmed with managing multiple platforms, manually typing out lab orders, and messaging patients back and forth. It was clear: our labs experience needed more than a tech refresh; it needed a thoughtful redesign. Stakeholder interviews illuminated just how much this inefficiency impacted both the team’s workflow and patient satisfaction.
NURX | OCTOBER 2023
Enhancing the Labs Experience
As part of a major replatforming project for the Central App, we redesigned the lab experience to address critical inefficiencies for both patients and care teams. The project focused on improving the visibility of lab orders, automating manual processes, and enhancing the overall patient experience through better tracking and information access.
Challenge
As we got deeper into the project, things got more complicated. Integrating with external labs meant some heavy API work, and just when we were making headway, our lead engineer left. It was clear that we needed to focus even more on cross-functional collaboration in order for this project to be successful. To keep us on track, we set up cross-functional pods with engineering, product, and care team stakeholders.
Results
Patients now had a clear, dedicated space for their labs, with real-time updates and detailed information. Care teams no longer had to send lab orders manually or juggle multiple platforms, significantly reducing their workload. By expanding our status tags to include more granular updates, we gave patients even more transparency into their health journey, ultimately improving their trust in the system. For the care team, time spent on lab management was reduced, allowing them to focus on delivering care.
Reflection
What I learned from this project was the value of cross-functional collaboration, especially when dealing with a product as complex as this. Engaging engineering early and prioritizing stakeholder feedback were crucial to making informed, patient-centered decisions. It reinforced for me that even small changes in a user’s journey—like clearer lab statuses—can have a profound impact on the overall experience. It wasn’t about reinventing the wheel but finding clarity in complexity.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Cross-functional collaboration and early engagement with engineering are key to successful product development.
Small details, like status updates and lab transparency, can make a big difference in user satisfaction.
Prioritizing stakeholder needs and focusing on the user journey led to a product that not only worked better but felt better for those using it.
Future Opportunities
ELIGIBILITY & PAYMENTS
A potential future area of improvement is incorporating lab eligibility checks and better managing insurance and payment information.
DATA INTEGRATIONS
There is room for deeper integration with external labs to further automate processes and reduce manual touchpoints.
CROSS-CARE
As the company continues to explore cross-care opportunities, the labs feature can further evolve to support multiple conditions, treatments, and care plans.
Solution
After countless brainstorming sessions, journey mapping exercises, and comparing our approach to industry standards like LabCorp and MyChart, we started to see the way forward. We knew that transparency and ease of access were key. Instead of the fragmented, message-thread experience of the past, we created a dedicated lab section where patients could track the status of their tests in real time. We added detailed lab cards, visual cues for lab types, and status tags for easy navigation—bringing clarity and peace of mind to patients. In parallel, we automated workflows for the care team, allowing them to focus on care rather than manual processes.
