For CommonSpirit Health's patient portal, should we focus on adding more comprehensive health data and features or on simplifying the interface to improve accessibility for elderly users?

Introduction

For CommonSpirit Health's patient portal, we're facing a critical trade-off between adding comprehensive health data and features versus simplifying the interface for elderly users. This decision will significantly impact user engagement, health outcomes, and our overall product strategy. I'll analyze this trade-off by examining user needs, technical considerations, and business implications to provide a data-driven recommendation.

Step 1

Clarifying Questions (3 minutes)

• Based on the current user demographics, I'm thinking our elderly user base might be substantial. Could you provide a breakdown of our user age distribution?

Why it matters: Helps determine the weight we should give to simplification efforts. Expected answer: 40-50% of users are over 65. Impact on approach: High elderly user percentage would prioritize simplification.

• Considering our revenue model, I assume we're primarily focused on patient retention and engagement. How does portal usage correlate with patient loyalty and health outcomes?

Why it matters: Aligns product decisions with business objectives. Expected answer: Strong positive correlation between portal usage and patient retention. Impact on approach: Would justify investing in features that drive frequent engagement.

• Looking at user behavior, I'm curious about the most common tasks performed on the portal. What are the top 3-5 actions users take when they log in?

Why it matters: Helps prioritize which features to simplify or expand. Expected answer: Appointment scheduling, viewing test results, and messaging providers. Impact on approach: Would focus on streamlining these key workflows.

• From a technical standpoint, I'm wondering about our current data integration capabilities. How easily can we incorporate additional health data sources into the portal?

Why it matters: Assesses feasibility of adding comprehensive health data. Expected answer: Moderate difficulty due to legacy systems integration. Impact on approach: Might limit scope of new data features in short-term.

• Regarding our development resources, what's our current team capacity for UX improvements versus data integration projects?

Why it matters: Determines realistic scope for each option. Expected answer: UX team is at capacity, data integration team has some bandwidth. Impact on approach: Might favor data features unless we can reallocate resources.