We were tasked with providing the overall user-centered design solutions for a digital disease management platform for heart failure patients and healthcare professionals. This included mobile patient and physician ends, and a PC nurse end page experience and interface design, providing user-friendly design interfaces to enhance user experience for those with lesser digital capabilities. The objective was to ensure functions and content solved patients’ pain-points within health management, provide enhanced user experience with high-quality usability under multiple scenarios, and create a design language that communicated in a positive and caring manner, contributing to the health and well-being of society.

With 13.5 million heart failure patients, and 50% dying within 5 years of diagnosis, 66% of all deaths in China are due to heart disease, making it the biggest killer in a country home to the world’s largest national population. Prescription adherence is poor once patients leave hospital, meaning the average patient is re-hospitalized 2.4 times within a year. With most heart failure patients elderly and often living in poor or remote conditions, the objective was to provide heart failure care at their fingertips in the comfort of their own home. The use of new technologies, such as AI, big data, and voice and facial recognition have been utilized to provide continuity of care, aimed at bringing the number of heart failure deaths down in China and contributing to “Good Health and Well-being” (SDG#3) of human society.

Our goal was to build a digital platform enabling remote heart failure disease management, connecting patients with healthcare professionals to ensure the education of patients about heart failure, while also enhancing transparency and real-time access to health records for physicians and nurses. We wanted to design a platform that was convenient for elderly users to be able to manage their own conditions, and seamless for physicians and nurses to observe patients' physical conditions, give guidance and act efficiently and effectively in situations such as worsening detection alerts. We used WeChat Mini Programs, because with 400 million daily active users, it has the largest audience in China, covering a wide range of age groups, including elderly — the age bracket of most heart failure patients. WeChat is also known for the ease with which users can instantly share content with others.

The creative strategy started with research to define the user groups of the platform and learning about their conditions to build empathy and help understand their respective situations. We mapped out their omni-channel user journeys from awareness to learning, experience, maintenance and advocacy, outlining their needs at each stage, with different touch-points. Meanwhile, we aligned the opportunities for each stage and decided on top-priority features that would best meet the needs of all users — heart failure patients, physicians and nurses. The mini program was then continuously iteration following rollout, based on user interview feedback, ensuring the best possible experience.

October 2019: Project begins?

October 2019: First mini program prototype demonstrated?

November 2019: Innovation presented at China International Import Expo

December 2019: Physician interface available for testing; both versions incorporated detailed user feedback and insight?

January 2020: After trials at 3 Chinese hospitals, additional features developed, plus a third interface, for nurses to support ongoing interactions with patients after hospital discharge in a country with no established primary care structure

?April 2020: Full version of mini program officially launched?

April-Dec 2020: Continuous updates made, including a faster, less complex patient onboarding system; a COVID-19 "pandemic make-over", including basic facts and guidance on mitigating virus risk; and self-service online enrollment

As of January 2021, over 300 top hospitals in China, covering more than 100 cities, had introduced the mobile heart failure disease management mini program as standard discharge protocol, with more than 25,000 patients signed up. Onboarding time was cut from 25 minutes to 3.5 minutes, while the platform continued to be improved based on user feedback. The latest version includes features such a COVID-19 risk management guidance. It’s hoped the digital solution will help many more patients, addressing the national epidemic and bringing the number of heart failure patients down from 13.5 million. It is also expected to help bring down statistics such as 2 out of 3 deaths in China being due to heart failure, and 50% of heart failure patients dying within 5 years of diagnosis. Our work is helping save lives, but also helped clients utilize technology to ensure solid business performance despite the pandemic.