↓ Insight
↓ Idea
↓ Impact
[ 3 ]
02x Senior UX Designers (me)
01x User Researchers
02x Business Analysts
Experience Design & Iteration
Cross-functional Collaboration
Design System
610,000 patients assisted since the nationwide launch of CarePath portal
80% less financial stress reported due to better savings management
The Problem
How might we design a better way for patients and healthcare providers to navigate the complexities of medication coverage, savings programs enrollment, and treatment support, ensuring a more seamless, transparent, and supportive experience?
My team and I worked side by side with Janssen’s product team leadership, making sure the needs of every therapeutic area were met. Beyond that, I partnered with a dedicated team of IBM business analysts and technologists to tackle the massive challenge of creating a secure, unified view that would allow Janssen to provide better, more informed support to both patients and their providers.
The highly regulated nature of the healthcare industry shaped every decision we made. As one of two senior product designers on the project, I contributed to building the CarePath design system, delivering the patient and provider portal, and shaping standards for streamlining regulatory approvals.
This was a team effort from start to finish. In just six months, we launched an MVP that made a real impact, but we didn’t stop there. Over the next year, we kept refining, iterating, and improving.
Insight
To ensure CarePath v2.0 effectively addressed the needs of patients and providers, extensive research was conducted. Over 30 user interviews were performed to gauge sentiment around Janssen’s offerings, with a focus on benefits coverage and savings program enrollment.
Due to privacy regulations, all insights were gathered through Janssen sales associates who work directly with provider offices. To supplement these findings, the team analyzed published research and industry reports to understand broader challenges in patient medication adherence and financial barriers.
Research efforts centered on identifying user goals, pain points, and success metrics, leading to key insights that directly shaped the platform’s core functionalities.
Providers, on the other hand, highlighted the burden of manual paperwork and inefficiencies in their workflows. These insights drove the implementation of electronic forms and centralized patient management systems in the Provider Portal, significantly reducing administrative workload and streamlining patient enrollment.
To supplement these findings, the team analyzed published research and industry reports to understand broader challenges in patient medication adherence and financial barriers.
Studies revealed that cost-related nonadherence is a significant issue, particularly among low-income patients, where financial strain often leads to skipped doses or abandoned treatments.
Research further indicated that increased patient cost-sharing is strongly correlated with lower adherence and higher treatment discontinuation rates.
These became our north star: defining what success would look like and helping us focus on reducing friction, improving understanding, and building trust across the treatment journey.
- Reduce high out-of-pocket costs that discourage adherence
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Improve patient understanding to support confident treatment decisions
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Strengthen communication to build trust and drive follow-through
- Eliminate system barriers that create friction in accessing medications
Idea
The Provider and Patient Portals were built in parallel, ensuring an integrated, consistent experience while addressing the distinct needs of both users.
The CarePath Patient Portal provided patients with a seamless and intuitive experience, giving them instant access to their medication coverage, enrollment status, and savings programs—all in one place.
One of the standout enhancements was the streamlined sign-Up & enrollment, allowing patients to register just once to access all prescribed Janssen medications. This eliminated redundant accounts and ensured that all relevant information was consolidated for easy management.
Additionally, the simple layout ensured the sign-up flow was fully mobile-friendly, allowing patients to complete their application easily from any device. This improved accessibility.
Managing insurance coverage can often be an anxiety-inducing task, with patients struggling to navigate complex terminology and unclear statuses. Our redesign focused on making the current state of a patient’s case easy to understand at a glance, reducing uncertainty and empowering patients to take action with confidence.
Additionally, patients and providers now share a similar view of the coverage page, facilitating clearer, two-way communication about insurance details and ensuring both parties stay aligned on next steps.
Previously, patients found the VOB confusing due to dense medical terminology and complex formatting. To solve this, we developed a guided VOB that walks patients through their coverage step by step.
Instead of cluttering the page with excessive help tips, this interactive approach defines key terms, provides clear explanations, and highlights essential details.
Patients also gained secure access to their prescription history and insurance status, making it easier to stay informed about their coverage.
By simplifying the journey, patients could focus on their health rather than navigating complex administrative processes.
Through the hub, patients could enroll in support programs such as Janssen Link and Nurse Navigator, which provided dedicated treatment guidance and personalized assistance. The portal also allowed patients to sign up for medication reminders, helping them stay on track with their prescribed regimen.
By seamlessly integrating these resources, we empowered patients to better manage their healthcare journey with confidence and ease.
Including these services was a priority, as research has shown the significant impact of personalized reminders on treatment adherence. The study also highlighted that personalized messages, particularly those including a patient’s name, had a moderate effect on adherence.
With these findings in mind, we ensured that CarePath’s medication reminders were not only accessible but also customizable—giving patients control over how and when they received their reminders, making them as personal and effective as possible.
“I needed help with my medication payments. Getting help through Janssen CarePath was easy, they got it done right away.”
Cindy P, Patient
With the provider portal we aimed to reduce administrative burdens for healthcare professionals managing patient enrollments.
Providers gained a unified view of all patients’ CarePath enrollment and coverage, allowing them to efficiently track statuses in a single location.
A segmented table controller was introduced, allowing providers to seamlessly toggle between "All Patients" and "Case Management" views. Additionally, filter chips were implemented to enable quick access to commonly used filters, with the flexibility to customize and retain preferences upon login.
“Case Management made it easier to keep track of patients who need urgent help with their coverage. Instead of digging through tables, I can quickly see who needs attention.”
Office Administrator, Summit Immunology Associates
All forms, including exception and appeal requests, could now be completed and submitted online, eliminating the need for manual paperwork.
Form wizards with standardized templates guided users through the process, reducing errors and ensuring faster approvals.
Excessive Length
- Issue: The form is long and requires multiple pages of input, making it cognitively overwhelming.
- Solution: Break it into progressive steps (e.g., "Step 1: Patient Info," "Step 2: Insurance," etc.)
Technical Jargon
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Issue: Some instructions require deciphering medical and insurance terms, increasing cognitive burden.
- Solution: Use simpler phrasing, inline tooltips, or hover explanations for complex terms.
Repetitive Information Requests
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Issue: Some fields (e.g., Insurance details) could be autofilled or prepopulated from prior entries, reducing redundancy.
- Solution: Reduce free-text entry, add default selections, predictive inputs, and pre-filled common responses.
No real-time validation
- Issue: Users won’t realize mistakes until they submit the form, leading to frustration.
- Solution: Highlight required fields early, provide real-time feedback (e.g., “Invalid date format” before submission).
Inline error validation ensured mistakes were caught in real-time, preventing submission delays, while natural language tooltips replaced complex medical jargon, making instructions clearer and easier to follow. These enhancements streamlined the workflow for office administrators, reducing frustration and improving efficiency in processing benefit investigations and prescriptions.
By eliminating the need for manual paperwork, office administrators saved an estimated 5-7 hours per week, allowing them to focus more on patient coordination and support. This improvement not only enhanced efficiency and accuracy but also streamlined workflows, reducing delays in benefit approvals and patient enrollment processing.
The record was leveraged to autopopulate future forms to expedite the form filling process.
Seamless Collaboration, Smarter Communication, and Real-Time Support
To strengthen communication, CarePath v2.0 introduced secure messaging and real-time alerts. HIPAA-compliant text messages, email notifications, and in-platform messaging kept patients and providers informed on treatment status, approvals, and next steps, reducing the need for time-consuming phone calls and improving care continuity.
“You guys have one of the most innovative portals.”
Melani R, Suncoast Rheumatology
Impact
Successful nationwide launch of the Janssen CarePath Patient and Provider Portals, supporting all Janssen medications, led to:
- Improved user experience increased adoption to 610,000 commercially insured patients to date, with providers calling CarePath their most-used manufacturer portal.
- 60% reduction in manual paperwork processing time due to improved EOB upload success rate.
- Positive provider feedback, noting ease of EOB uploads, better patient data access, and a user-friendly experience.
- Greater affordability and adherence for patients, with 80% reporting reduced financial stress from better savings management. Clear coverage tracking ensured continued medication access, boosting adherence rates by 30%.
Janssen CarePath v2.0 successfully transformed a fragmented support system into an intuitive, efficient, and scalable platform. By prioritizing user needs and leveraging cloud-based technology, we created a solution that not only enhanced the patient and provider experience but also set a new standard for digital healthcare support.