Client Project

A human-centered approach to person-centered care

Summary: Bios Corp is a provider of support for individuals living with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The support plans they build strive to be person-centered, tailored to the individuals unique needs and preferences. However, current systems relied on manual input and memory to maintain these standards. I interviewed and collaborated with leaders at Bios Corp, person-centered thinking professionals, and direct support staff in order to develop workable prototypes for a revamped person-centered support plan builder.

  • Role
    Product Designer
  • Team
    1 Product Owner, 1 Senior Product Designer, 2 Junior Product Designers, 2 Engineers
  • Timeline
    6 months
  • Impact
    Designed workable prototypes presented to company leadership
1. Business Goals2. User Needs3. Approach4. Results
In a pinch? Just read the headings
Business Goal

Creating a support plan builder that incorporates person-centered thinking.

Person-centered thinking is an approach to planning and problem-solving that places the individual at the center of decision-making. It involves considering the unique needs, preferences, and goals of each person an using this information to develop plans that are tailored to their specific needs.

User needs

Interviews with industry leaders, person-centered thinking professionals, and caretakers helped us understand existing systems and underlying user needs.

These user stories emerged:

Approach

We hosted frequent design workshops with stakeholders to find and prioritize major pain points within the current process.

Some pain points we uncovered:

Bios process flow
Results

A side panel to connect person-centered information with corresponding support tasks.

The final design involved a side panel that would allow case managers and support plan builders to view, add, and update any person-centered information related to the person and their specific support tasks.

Not only did this increase the salience of the person-centered information for better awareness but also the intentional friction was designed to ensure each support task was created as a result of something that was relevant not just to what was important for the person but also to the person.

Bios support plan default
Bios side panel

Additional screens and features I worked on

In addition to the support plan builder, I also contributed to the following screens and features.

If I were to takeaway one thing from this...

Incorporate subject matter experts early. By incorporating the input and participation of industry leaders, person-centered professionals, and direct support staff throughout the planning process, we were able to understand the problem space quickly and effectively. In such a complex space, it was crucial for us to lean on those that experience the pain points of existing systems directly and ask them for desired solutions.