"How can we streamline the OHIP application for new immigrants, making it stress-free and more efficient?"

easyOHIP

A mobile application preparing new immigrant with applying their Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP). Focusing on helping the applicant on knowing exactly what documents they need and getting the best Service Ontario appointment, easyOHIP will immensely boost the confidence when going through the application process.

My Team

Sarah Harrison
Nicole Maj
Sai Nikam
Rabbea Iftikhar

Tools

Figma

Miro

Balsamiq

My Role

Planning and conducting user research and testing, leading ideation and prototyping, and designing visual assets.

Class

Fundamentals of UX

Platform

Mobile

Sector

Healthcare

//Current Problem

applying for OHIP

The OHIP application process is cumbersome, causing prolonged uninsured status among Torontonians, especially affecting immigrants.

50% of visitors experiencing waits over 30 minutes

36% identified issues for inadequate information & paperwork

//User Research

survey+

interviews

We surveyed 38 adults and conducted 8 semi-conducted interviews.

In total, 35 out of 46 respondents are people who have applied for or renewed their OHIP cards in the last 6 months.

The combined use of surveys and interviews in this research provided a comprehensive view of the OHIP application process, revealing quantitative trends and qualitative insights into the user experiences in Toronto.(methods & protocol are listed in the end)

Average Responses from respondents

* abnormally low scores are marked red(<3.50)

Most Helpful OHIP Resources

Most Challenging OHIP Access

key findings

Confusion with Documentation
Difficulty Navigating Government Resources
Frustration with Appointment Bookings
In-Person Service Ontario Challenge

problem

statement

The OHIP application process is intended to give access to public healthcare for residents of Ontario. We have observed that the application process fails to provide straightforward access, which is causing Torontonians to prolong their uninsured status, potentially leaving residents without healthcare and feeling abandoned by their government. How might we improve the process to obtain an OHIP card so that our users are not left feeling confused and frustrated, and are more successful in being able to take part in public healthcare?

creating the

persona

Based on the problem statement we came up with after conducting research, we constructed our persona to explore further for a solution, meet Aparna the Applier:

empathy

map

To understand what our users like Aparna says, thinks, does, and feels,

we created an empathy map:

Copy of Research Analysis Deliverable_He

current

user journey

We want to further explore the journey of our persona so we can pinpoint

the pain points and get to know our persona's goals and needs. So, we created a current user journey to help us:

Pain points identified:

Contradictory Information

Unclear Doc

Requirement

Unhelpful Staff

goals +

needs

Exploring our users' current journey helps us to know the goals and needs of Aparna:

Goals

Get all the OHIP work done in one go
Easily obtain OHIP card without long wait times
Understand the requirements & benefits of OHIP

Needs

Figure out the requirements to have a stress-free application
Track documents so that everything is in one place
know what to expect from Service Ontario visit

future

user journey

After establishing users' goals and needs, we reimagined what the future would be if we addressed users' pain points with a to be scenario story board:

Copy of Ideation Presentation Heroes.png

Copy of Ideation Presentation Heroes (2).png

Copy of Ideation Presentation Heroes (1).png

Copy of Ideation Presentation Heroes (3).png

Aparna uses the online quiz to get her personalized list of requirements; she feels calm and hopeful.

She uses her personalized checklist to easily compile all her documents, eliminating any guesswork, making her feel focused and engaged.

She checks her appointment and average wait time, so she knows exactly which Service Ontario to go to, no longer feeling anxious but feeling prepared and relaxed.

She is fully prepared in front of the government employee, so she gets her temporary card on the spot, feeling confident and happy.

design goals

Aparna can quickly obtain a personalized document checklist through a pre-screening quiz.
She can gather and access all OHIP documents in one convenient folder.
A chatbot assists Aparna with specific questions, ensuring preparedness for her Service Ontario visit.

//Ideation

ideation sketchs

After establishing users' goals and needs, we start to ideate. Each idea was evaluate and voted collaboratively on their impact and deasibility for implementation. The slide show demonstrated our group's ideation process.

prioritization grid

After Voting, our team settled on implementing idea 1, 2, 3, and 4.

low-fi

user flow

(taking the on-boarding quiz to get personalized checklist)

low-fi - Finding Best Service Ontario (1

(filtering the locations to book the best appointment)

(asking the chatbot related questions)

(uploading required documents to personal checklist)

We then started to sketch the ideas out into low-fidelity prototype for a quick and efficient prototype so we can evaluate our ideas and do iterations to improve them.

lean

evaluation

We conducted 5 lean evaluations with testers who recently applied or renewed the OHIP card, here are our key insights:

On-boarding Quiz

The quiz need an option to review questions, a progress bar, and should be able to change answers later on.

Find Service Ontario location

We need to make sure that the distance filter was on a numbered scale and The filter icon need to be more recognizable.

Ask Chatbot

The "robot" icon wasn't recognizable as a chatbot. The interaction need to feel more personalized, rather than a robot giving pre-determined responses.

Upload documents

We need to remove “Skip” and “Save” buttons, have one document upload per page, and have a separate Delete button for each document.

//Iterations

mid fi

prototype

Based off our lean evaluation, we refined out designed and created a clickable mid-fi prototypes, each refined task flows are shown in the following screens below:

Linear and Engaging Quiz

Offers a dynamic and engaging way to create a personalized checklist for OHIP application, complete with progress tracking and the flexibility to modify responses.

Personalized Checklist Generation
Enhanced with Review Option and Progress Bar
Flexibility to Change Answers Later

Intuitive
Service Ontario Locator

Improved with an intuitive filtering system, this tool helps users easily find the nearest Service Ontario location, featuring a more recognizable filter icon for better navigation.

Improved Location Filtering with Numbered Scale
More Recognizable Filter Icon

Responsive Ask Chatbot

Provides personalized assistance with a redesigned, more recognizable chatbot, improving user interaction and information retrieval.

Enhanced Personalization in Interactions
Redesigned Chatbot Icon for Better Recognition

Streamlined Document Upload

Simplifies the document upload process with a clearer interface and dedicated delete options for each document, enhancing user convenience.

Streamlined Upload Process
Separate Delete Button for Each Document

//Formative Eval

usability testing

we conducted 4 in-person usability tests with representative users, followed by post-test structured interviews. For each task flow, we tracked: Success (Y/N); Number of Errors; Time Spent on Task; and Questions Asked. (methods & protocol are listed in the end) Below is the evaluation graph we made that tells things that work, things to change, some questions, and some new ideas:

Copy of Ideation Deliverable (3)_edited.

beyond the class

After this class, I then converted our mid-fi prototype into a high-fidelity Figma prototype.

next steps

As part of our next steps, we wanted to expand our project in three main directions: more iteration, application deployment, and more evaluations, details are show in the graph below:

Copy of Ideation Deliverable (4)_edited.

lessons learned