From Idea to Reality: A New Patient-Designed MyChart Experience

User experience designers at Epic regularly listen to ideas from patients, and earlier this year, one of those ideas became reality: MyChart now has a brand-new look. The design is based on almost two years of patient feedback, R&D, and test runs, and it’s now available for healthcare organizations to offer to the 165 million patients around the world who use MyChart.

MyChart’s new design lets patients easily scroll through their health history on the news feed-inspired home page to see actions they need to take, jump to the activities they use most often, and see important announcements. The MyChart team spoke with patients, their families, and health systems from around the globe to learn about their healthcare experiences, how they’d like to connect with their doctors, and what they look for in an app.

As they designed, the team conducted dozens of usability studies, shared prototypes with patients, held webinars, and coordinated design calls with more than 60 health systems. Many people shared the importance of MyChart as a central hub for an entire family’s health information, so the team updated the health feed to show appointments and messages for each family member that a person is responsible for.

“As an artist, I love dreaming up ways to make the app colorful and joyful to use,” said Dana Demsky, the lead user experience designer for the project. “Intuitive, artistic design, like different colors for each member of the family, can make a big difference in helping patients easily see important information.”

The new design is a springboard for even more ideas on patients’ wish lists, like week-to-week pregnancy updates, which are included in the MyChart home feed starting in Epic’s November 2020 release.

“MyChart’s new look was really designed by patients,” Dana said. “Each change we made was based on patient feedback and got the stamp of approval, and it feels good to hear that it’s making a difference in how patients use the app in their day-to-day lives.”

Read more about a day in the life of an Epic user experience designer. Epic community members can learn more about Epic’s approach to usability on the UserWeb.

Photo Copyright 2020 Epic Systems Corporation.