Good Usability: Taking the Guesswork Out of Designing Patient Extranets

Kate Peterson & Rebecca Ormsby, Usability Specialists, MasterCard International, O’Fallon, MO, describe how in 2002, Express Scripts – – a large pharmacy benefits management (PBM) company — turned to this usability services group to test how its Web-based member portal could be made easier to use. A year later, after incorporating recommended changes, the Consumer Respect Group, a firm that studies how companies treat their online customers, named Express Scripts the best of 38 healthcare organizations, and rated its award-winning site more than 50 percent higher than the sector average. Kate and Rebecca will present lessons learned in the Express Scripts case, covering the challenges that faced Express Scripts and how usability testing and redesign helped meet and overcome these challenges quickly and with tangible benefits, including industry recognition and happier users/customers/members.