Modernizing Medicine’s patient kiosk, modmed Kiosk, is a native iPad application, designed for patients to perform self-service tasks, such as completing patient intake forms, at the doctor’s office. The antiquated intake process of filling out paper forms is a burden on both the patient and the practice. It is a confusing, stressful and error-prone experience that hasn’t changed in over 50 years. The patient intake process offers a valuable opportunity to engage patients early on, directly involve them in their own care, decrease waiting time, reduce costs, diminish potential errors and eliminate outdated information.

By observing pain points during the intake process, the UX team embraced the goal of placing the patient back at the center of care by leveraging advances in technology to help drive change. Modernizing Medicine’s patient kiosk was developed by using an agile User-Centered Design (UCD) process to rapidly test, iterate and code. The user interface uses large fonts and focused information that provide accessibility to users of all ages and skill levels to accurately populate and validate their medical data. We used a linear navigation design to guide users step-by-step through each section of the process.

Since patients are able to tap through intuitive prompts on the iPad, they can easily update their personal, medical and pharmacy information rather than filling out dreaded paperwork which can result in a 75% time reduction. Kiosk eliminates the need for staff to input information and allows providers to establish relationships with their patients and gather deeper insight into their current state of health. Patient kiosk can benefit the patient, provider and practice. Patients feel empowered, providers have better patient insights and can provide better care, and practices can save time and money on inputting and updating paper forms.

As a company and as a UX team, we see the future of our patient engagement projects being carried out with a strategic design approach — this includes continuing to observe the healthcare and technology industries, to integrate cutting-edge functionality and simplicity built for patients of various ages, educational backgrounds, health literacy and technological skill levels. One piece of that puzzle is having conversational searches built into modmed Kiosk where the user can interact with the application just like he or she would with a human being. Part of that is allowing patients to search and input information in lay terms for conditions versus the use of clinical terminology. Looking ahead, we plan to include gamification techniques to enhance the patient experience and level of engagement with kiosk, so they stay motivated and complete the process of filling out all the forms needed.

The technology in the healthcare environment is a much larger question. When you look at healthcare on a global level, costs are always too high, especially in the United States, so patient engagement is a critical part of any individual physician's or any practice’s strategy to not just decrease costs, but what’s more important, is actually individualized patient care. The more that physicians can help engage their patients in the care of their chronic diseases, and even acute diseases, the better their health outcomes are going to be with the hope to live happier and more fulfilling lives. As our patient kiosk continues to evolve, it will continue to improve communication, enhance the patient–physician relationship and ultimately improve outcomes. We are well on our way to to a future where paper forms are a thing of the past and modmed Kiosk will play a helpful role in the future of a paperless medical practice.