Open Admissions

Redesigning an inefficient interface into an intuitive workflow hub. Users reduced task time by 30%, earned an industry leading 35 NPS score.

Company

Role

Year

DaVita

Design Lead

2022

The Challenge

An Outdated Interface Slowing Patient Care

The Open Admissions Smartapp (OAS) was initially intended to feed data into clinical workflows, leaving the user interface disconnected from real-world workflows. The tool forced Integrated Kidney Care Assistants (IKCAs), who support Registered Nurses (RNs) in patient outreach, into inefficient workflows.

Rather than empowering IKCAs to easily prioritize & contact patients, the interface concealed critical information. The result was a greater degree of friction, slower outreach, and less time spent on providing patient care.

Outdated Interface

Users couldn't sort patients by admission type, making it difficult to organize their workload.

Workflow Inefficiency

The system did't surface high-priority patients, forcing users to "hunt" through records to identify who needed attention first.

Time Constraints

Completing simple daily tasks required a multi-step process, often preventing users from finishing work on time.

Existing Open Admissions App - Patient Data Not Available for Privacy Reasons

Working with a New Team

Building Trust & Leveraging User Insights

When I joined the project, I stepped into a team that had never previously worked with a designer. It was obvious to me that building trust was the essential first step toward driving meaningful change for our users.

I initiated a series of 1:1 meetings with product leaders and key stakeholders—the goal was to establish design as a strategic & collaborative partner from day one. Through these conversations, the team coalesced around user pain points, alignment on opportunities, & set the tone for a design process that drove immediate impact.

Design Strategy

Surfacing Opportunties for a Smarter Workflow

With trust established and a shared understanding of how we might approach user challenges, I conducted a holistic UX audit of the existing OAS interface. My goal was to find where friction thrived—gaps between the interface and real world workflows—and map a path to clarity.

Throughout the audit process, we maintained a regular communication cadence among the product, design, and tech stakeholders. These rituals ensured that insights moved quickly from discovery into actionable design priorities.

Key Opportunities

-Organizing patient populations: viewing patients by admission type allows for intuitive outreach priorities

-Clearer critical path: standardize CTA buttons to guide users effortlessly through important tasks

-Simplified filtering: reducing complexity & introduce new tools like 'Reset' and an 'Overdue' toggle

-Actions within context: enabling users to complete critical updates directly in the interface

Creating Priorities

To ensure design efforts were focused, I created a prioritization matrix to align the team on what mattered most based on findings from the Audit.

This allowed us to map out our work based on urgency and strategic value, ensuring early wins while paving the way for longer-term improvements.

-High impact, low effort: establishing a clear workflow pattern, unified accessibility improvements

-High impact, high effort: reorganize patient population view, one click action to essential workflows

Centering the User Experience

As I conducted the audit, I explored further into the primary workflow to develop an understanding that proved crucial in designing an experience that supported the IKCAs. The workflow map revealed two primary tasks:

-IKCAs need to make daily & meaningful contact with patients

-IKCAs need to log accurate, timely health status updates based on patient health

Workflow Map

Open Admissions Smartapp 2.0

A Streamlined, Intuitive Experience

The redesigned OAS balanced familiarity with innovation, as we preserved core structural elements to minimize the learning curve while introducing targeted, high value improvements that made everyday tasks intuitive. We focused on surfacing critical patient information, simplifying navigation, and embedding key actions directly into workflows.

Patient Population Navigation

Previously buried within tables, admission types are now primary navigation elements, allowing IKCAs to prioritize their outreach.

Unified Style

Created a unified style for all of the components within the interface—including filters, buttons, and various type requirements in the table.

Direct Action

The split button enables users to update the activity log without leaving the page & it supports secondary actions for future innovation.

Solution Quickview

Results

The redesigned Open Admissions Smartapp launched in 2024 to a very positive reception amongst our user base.

35

NPS Score (industry standard is 0)

"My day starts off so much more organized. I love that my front page pops up and has my TOC calls and new admits already sorted for me. The search options let me breakdown my morning workflow in a way that works best for me, so there is no chaos."

"I love the addition of the Admit tab - I feel more organized each morning which makes my calls go smoother and quicker. The Activity Log button has been a huge timesaver when tracking my existing TOCs."