CUA of the Month – September, 2008

Putting Users First at CareFirst.com

by Christine Schrum

There's only one audience that's tougher to design for than today's savvy Web users: people at the opposite end of the spectrum. Just ask Linda Anderson, who recently oversaw the redesign of the Medi-CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst) website (www.medi-carefirst.com),which offers Medicare-related insurance plans.

"We're talking about your least web-savvy audience trying to navigate a potentially confusing website," says Linda. "Let's just say it was a challenge."

But Linda likes a good challenge. And she loves making complex healthcare information easy to access and understand for users of all abilities. That's why she's Manager of Electronic Communications at CareFirst.

CareFirst is the largest healthcare insurer in the Mid-Atlantic region, serving more than 3.2 million members in Maryland, the District of Columbia and parts of Northern Virginia. The corporate business entity set up to manage Medicare Prescription Drug Plans (a.k.a. Part D plans), Medi-CareFirst has regularly been honored with Brand Excellence awards from the national BlueCross BlueShield Association.

In 2005, Linda managed the execution of the original Medi-CareFirst website, which was created for the sole purpose of offering Part D to the disabled and people age 65 and older. Working closely with Human Factors International's (HFI) usability experts, Linda's team designed a successful site that met users' needs.

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It was straightforward enough, but three years later, CareFirst decided to expand the site's offerings, adding other Medicare-related insurance plans to their site. To make matters more complex, designers had to keep in mind several different user groups:

1. a target audience of people aged 65 and up, along with a smaller group of disabled users
2. a secondary audience made up of children of seniors or parents of the disabled
3. a third audience comprised of social services workers or other agencies that assist seniors or disabled in selecting drug and health insurance plans.

"Once we determined we were no longer selling just Part D to one target audience," says Linda, "we worked extensively with HFI to do usability testing and conceptual research before we launched anything."

Linda and CareFirst have a long history with HFI.

After implementing the University of Maryland Medical Center's website in the late '90s, Linda was hired by CareFirst to oversee the insurance company's websites.

"At that time, there wasn't a lot of usability training available. You were going on what you had learned from the print world, what looked good there. We were still basing websites on brochures."

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Wanting both to expand her own skill set and insure that CareFirst.com delivered an excellent user experience, Linda researched the available options and discovered the HFI usability certification program.

"It was just what we were looking for," she recalls. "The principles of usability helped me to differentiate between a personal and professional opinion during my first big project at CareFirst – the redesign of our primary site, www.carefirst.com – and it gave me a foundation for credibility when making decisions with our developers."

Linda went on to take HFI's usability training, then used it as a springboard to bring the rest of web communications team members into the usability fold. "Since that time," she says, "everyone who has worked in our Web content department has been required to take HFI's usability training and pass the CUA exam. Additionally, our IT department now has a CUA who is constantly on the look out for usability problems early in the development process."

After collaborating with HFI for usability testing on both the CareFirst site and the original Medi-CareFirst site, Linda had a lot of relevant user data on her hands to apply to the subsequent, more challenging redesign of the Medi-CareFirst site.

"We just kind of fast forwarded and said, 'OK, here's what we know up front'," she says. "Then, after reviewing the research and juggling around different ideas, we decided to set up the homepage with three distinct tracks that would take the main users down clear, developed paths." They also added top navigation links for members and visitors, employers and benefit managers, brokers and agents, and providers and physicians.

"We tested those concepts and revised based on the testing. Then we tested again after those revisions," says Linda with a laugh. "Web developers have a level of computer sophistication that is not consistent with the average user. What's easy and obvious for us isn't necessarily going to be intuitive for grandma."

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The new Medi-CareFirst site has only been live a few months, but so far, things seem to be running without a hitch. According to Linda, people are accomplishing tasks well in the guided approach, and she hasn't heard a peep from the "I Couldn't Find What I Needed" email feed that runs from the site to her inbox.

And in Linda's line of business, if people were having trouble with the site, she'd hear about it immediately.

"Online health insurance information is basically 'just-in-time information'," she says. "No one gets their health insurance info and reads the booklet end-to-end right away. When people come to our site, they're usually sick and/or trying to get quick information on a claim. They need to get in, get what they need, and get out quickly."

Linda says her CUA training equipped her with the usability skill set and confidence she needs to deliver streamlined website design and stay ahead in her career.

"When your site launches, you can't point the finger to any consultant if your users aren't satisfied," she says, "HFI's training is extremely important. It's crucial to have a strong understanding of the usability methodologies and how your users approach the Web from day one."

Of course, it goes without saying: what's good for Linda's career is even better for Medi-CareFirst and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield.

"Brand image equals user experience," she says. "More and more organizations realize the Web's influence on their corporate image, and those of us who are supporting the online user experience need to be educated in the components that comprise that experience. Online image is the future of brand image."

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