Making healthcare easier to access and understand
As NYU Langone launched telemedicine, many patients couldn’t activate accounts. We rebuilt the activation experience—clarifying language, steps, and feedback—so patients could access care with confidence.
Problem
Only 14% of patients were completing account creation when trying to schedule a visit. Patients got stuck at validation and treated the verification email like a receipt.
Patient validation
63% stuck. Unclear requirements; form errors.
Email verification
82% missed. “Thank you” implied done; weak CTA.
Account creation
10% completion. Late rules; repeated retries.
Design Process
Observed patients completing activation flows to uncover friction and mental models. Mapped challenges and aligned on improvements.
Focused outcomes on completion, clarity, and confidence with measurable signals.
Guided activation flows using standardized components and clear language; prototyped and documented for reuse.
Refined copy, form behavior, and visual cues to prevent errors and improve comprehension.
Partnered with engineering and PM to hand off designs, resolve constraints, and ensure accessible implementation.
What we wanted to learn
Research goals
- Pinpoint friction across activation (validation → verification → creation).
- Compare comprehension and effort on mobile vs. desktop.
- Clarify mental model of “activation” and next steps.
- Evaluate copy, labels, and rationale for data requests.
- Understand why verification emails are ignored.
Participants (sample)
8 current patients (EN/ES) • Age 20s–40s • Mixed devices • Varied tech literacy • Across NYC boroughs.
Solutions
Thesis: Reduce cognitive load by making activation visibly guided, language-clear, and error-preventive.
A more guided experience
Step tracker, proactive help text, and instructive language to prevent errors.
Inclusive communication design
Clear, direct language and status cues so people know where they are and what to do.
UX writing guidelines
Standardized accessible language, formatting, and a helpful voice across products.
Forms component library
Owned, improved, and documented a reusable forms system adopted across patient access flows.
Impact
Higher completion
Activation success improved after launch; verification clicks increased with new email subject/CTA.
Design system adoption
Form + copy patterns integrated into the DS and reused across patient access workflows.
Resilience in COVID
Improvements enabled rapid telemedicine scale-up during COVID.
Reflections
- Predictability is a usability feature in regulated workflows—guidance must be visible and consistent.
- Systemized forms + copy turn one win into many; DS integration multiplies impact.
- Within Epic/MyChart constraints, language, sequence, and verification clarity were the biggest levers.