Improving the quality of healthcare providers
Summary
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently undertook an initiative called the Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (iQIES). The purpose of iQIES is to replace the existing legacy, desktop-based system with a modernized, web-based version. The current legacy system is used by healthcare providers (such as nursing homes) to submit quality-of-care assessment information. That information is then used by state agencies and CMS to evaluate and improve the quality of those providers. In support of this modernization effort, we engaged as a subcontractor to Ventera and provided critical design and technical expertise.
The challenge
CMS’ iQIES initiative is a complex, large-scale modernization effort aimed at replacing the existing legacy system. A major challenge with this initiative has been the need to maintain operational continuity while at the same time modernizing the user experience, the technical architecture, and the technology stack.
The solution
As a subcontractor to Ventera, we helped support the iQIES initiative in several key areas, including:
- Provided design leadership to continually improve how user research, user experience design, and engineering teams engaged in the process of user-centered design
- Established a collaborative design platform aimed at constantly reinforcing the principles and practices of user-centered design
- Engineered the front-end experience of the application
The results
- Injected user-centered design principles and practices into the overall delivery process — without slowing down production