Payments had only one channel
Advance payments and due clearances required an
in-person visit. No flexibility, no digital option.
Bill line items were confusing
Terms like "Strength Training Charges" meant nothing to most families. Even reception staff sometimes had to escalate to the medical team.
Who We Were Designing For
Two users, one journey
Mihir, 45
Patient’s Family Member
Primary User
The family member/NOK manages the
patient’s finances.
They make key decisions during the
recovery journey.
They handle approvals, payments, and
financial queries.
Sanjay, 85
Patient Themselves
Secondary User
Most patients are bedridden and rely on the NOK.
Patients who are more independent are likely to use the app themselves.
RESEARCH
What patient's family members and staff told me
What families said
“Checking bills is tiresome, I have to go to the reception area every time.”
What reception staff said
"We spend a significant part of our morning just printing bills and explaining the same line items every day."
What data told us
Most families requested bill printouts twice daily, increasing staff workload significantly
Prioritisation
Why billing and not something else
Relatively low effort
As we had already built our in-house patient management tool which included billing, showing the bill on the app was relatively easier.
Viewing the bill will be a lot easier
Users no longer need to visit the reception area every time to check their bill; they can easily view it from anywhere on the app.
Less interaction with reception staff
By giving families an easy way to see their bills, we can cut down on the constant back-and-forth at the reception desk.
What was pushed to phase 2
Research revealed gaps beyond billing, no easy way to report issues or track daily sessions. We prioritized billing for V1 and planned these for Phase 2.
Exploration
Iterating towards simplicity and scalability
Home Screen
Next
Final design
Screens which made the cut
Login Flow
Screen 1 of 4
Enter mobile number
“What’s your registered mobile number” removes any doubt which number the user should enter.
Next
Home screen
Users will see one card per patient. If a number is registered with two patients, they’ll simply see two separate cards with the primary actions.
This card can also be used If we decide to bring in other services to the app later.
Note
Since this was the first version of the app, I left extra space on the cards and the home screen. This was a deliberate choice to make room for new features and important updates in the future without having to redesign the entire layout.
Billing Flow
Screen 1 of 5
Billing details
Shows a quick financial overview with deposit, bill, and balance, along with easy access to payments.
Detailed, day-wise billing below helps users track and understand charges clearly.
Next
The blind spot
After launch, we saw less than 10% logins
We spoke with the family members and got to know that they didn't even know the app existed. We had relied on the center staff to tell families about the app, but they were often too busy to mention it.
To fix this
Product Manager and I worked on a plan to make the app visible at every stage of the family's stay.
Sent Whatsapp messages
We automated WhatsApp messages to the primary family member's phone number as soon as a patient was registered.
App posters across centers
We placed posters in common areas like the lobby and waiting rooms.
impact
Numbers started growing after couple of weeks
90%
of users checked billing once a month
Adoption jumped from under 10% to nearly 90% in just two weeks after our WhatsApp and poster campaign.
30%
users checked billing screen daily
Users are checking their bills daily, showing that we successfully built transparency and trust.
50%
drop in physical bill printout requests
This cut the reception workload in half. Staff now have more time to focus on patient care instead of paperwork.
Learnings
Lessons that I’ll take forward
Adoption comes from value
Solving the core pain of manual billing drove natural adoption as users saw immediate value
Solve one problem well
Focusing fully on billing helped build trust, instead of spreading effort across multiple features
Early feedback saves time
Early stakeholder feedback helped refine direction and focus on the most impactful features
