How would Johnson & Johnson pioneer the transformation of our healthcare system from diagnose and treat to predict and prevent?
Context (TL:DR)
We were asked by J&J to reimagine what a "predict and prevent" dominant healthcare system would look like. We proposed to J&J a Merger & Acquisition/Partnership program with 'Health in her Hue' for advanced birth outcomes and prevention of preterm births in African American women.
My Role:
Strategist, UX Research​er, Sensemaker.
Methods I used:
Interviews, Information Analysis, Sense-making, Desk Research, Synthesis, User Journey Mapping, Co-Creation, Client facing Deck Making and Pitch.
Tools:
Miro, Figma, Canva
Scope:
4 months
Team:
Anushka Ansal, Alex Graham, Barbara Castro, Sharvari Sovani
Overview
The Project
This project was done in collaboration with J&J Design which is a design strategy team focusing on generating fresh insights and translating them into crafted, new care experiences.
The End Goal
To deliver a compelling pitch to the client that identifies, highlights and supports an opportunity for them to be an active part of a new, reimagined care experience.
The Impact
J&J to lead the field in co-creating the FIRST MODERN END-TO-END PLATFORM for African American women going through the pregnancy experience.
The Process:
Problem
Definition of Problem
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Individual Desk Research
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Group Discussions
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Comparative Analysis
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Deep Dives
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Informal convos
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Media consumption
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Insights
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Reframing of Problem
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Mapping
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Identifying Patterns
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Iceberg model
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Interviews
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Brainstorming
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Ideation
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Concept Testing
Discover
Define
Develop
Deliver
Solution
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Low fidelity prototyping
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Testing
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Refining
Discover
The Ask:
The Industry:
How might we transform our healthcare system from diagnose and treat to predict and prevent?
Caregiving
The Background:
This project is part of an integrative studio in my second semester at Parsons School Of Design. This partnership with Parsons School of Design is one of J&J's many initiatives that are under the J&J Design Studio that works globally across the Company’s business segments.
Uncovering The Challenge:
Since the initial ask was broad, we did a first round of desk research to identify possible areas of our focus for this project. We discovered an alarming statistic that became the pivot of our research.
Alarming Fact:
The Context:
African American women are two times more likely to have a preterm birth than white women.
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Premature babies are more likely to have chronic health issues including developmental delays, infections, asthma, and more. It is observed that premies are often at the receiving end of the 'diagnose and treat' approach.
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Stress puts women at an increased risk for premature birth.
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Our inquiry was to see if it was possible to predict and prevent preterm births by reducing the potential stressors in the journey leading up to the birth of a new born.
Based on our findings from the first round of our desk research, we revised our original problem statement to align better with the focus and scope of our research.
The intent of redefining of the problem was to enable us to identify and alleviate the root causes of premature births amongst this population by intervening in the system, and preventing preterm births from happening.
Revision of Problem Statement:
From:
How might we transform our healthcare system from diagnose and treat to predict and prevent?
To:
How might we leverage Johnson & Johnson to transform the pregnancy experience and drive a more positive birth outcome for an African American woman, thus preventing premature births?
Our Approach to Inclusion:
"We are not the user, and the user is not us"
Throughout this journey, we have led with empathy, knowing that none of us are African American women in the U.S. We have spoken with African American women throughout this process - and we hope to be agents of change, in creating a solution to address this real-world experience African American women go through every day.
The Research:
Qualitative Research:
Quantitative Research:
We spoke to mothers and subject matter experts(OBGYN, Pediatricians, Health Disparity Researcher and a Family Science Researcher)
We scraped news articles, podcasts, youtube videos and social networks like Facebook and Reddit to get a deep understanding of the user's experience.
The Research in Numbers:
5 Mom Interviews
4 Expert Interviews
40+ Articles Read
50+ Hours in Research
Key Question:
Can you walk us through your pregnancy and birthing experience?
Qualitative User Research:
Quotes:
Black women don't feel heard. Serena Williams is one of the richest woman in America and still had to fight to get heard.
We are seeing that bias of providers can lead care trajectories to result in premature birth.
providers are working within a system that doesn't allow the level of listening that needs to happen
there is tremendous room for improvement in patient-doctor relationship
Having an advocate like a doula or a community health worker can help expecting mothers to navigate the complex healthcare system better
my doula changed the whole dynamics. she empowered me to voice my concerns and got them to listen to me
Providers should work on cultural competency and effective listening + communication
Quality of care is not equal across patients
Define
Themes Identified from Research:
Advocacy
Not being heard
Accessibility
Stressors
Support
Structural issues
Insights:
Lack of accessibility and information about quality healthcare and providers
Structural issues within the healthcare system lead to greater bias.
Women are not being heard at many levels within the healthcare system.
The need for having a support system/advocate but lack thereof
Key Strategic Insight:
Having support during pregnancy can help mitigate bias, therefore will allow patients to feel heard.
User Needs:
1
Accessibility to information, quality healthcare and providers
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Having someone with you through the whole process
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Active efforts to remove systemic biases at organizational level
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Being and feeling heard within the healthcare system
Develop
How might we
leverage Johnson & Johnson to transform the pregnancy experience and drive a more positive birth outcome for an African American woman, thus preventing premature births?
Accessibility
Support
Being heard
Remove Bias
Solution
Approaching the User's Needs:
Through our interviews and desk research, we came across a digital platform that -
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connects patients to culturally sensitive healthcare providers,
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creates thought-leadership content,
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and is an educational resource for African American expecting mothers.
Introducing: HEALTH IN HER HUE
Health in Her Hue is a digital platform that connects Black women to healthcare providers and offers health information and content that centers on their lived experiences.
Our Idea:
MERGER & ACQUISITION
We believe that by acquiring Health in Her Hue, Johnson & Johnson can reduce racial health disparities by building the first modern, end-to-end platform for African American women going through the pregnancy experience.
Deliver
Why Health in Her Hue?
Health in Her HUE connects Black Women and Women of Color to culturally sensitive healthcare providers , evidence based health content, and community support.
Content
Community
Providers
Why now?
These are just a few of the many eye opening headlines from articles that talk about the current landscape:
Value Proposition:
This partnership will allow Johnson & Johnson to not only fund a project that promotes health equity solutions, but it also allows J&J to champion the work that an African American-led organization is already doing in this space.
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For Health in Her Hue, an acquisition would mean being able to expand to new heights and become a safe space for more women.
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By leveraging the power of the Johnson & Johnson brand, whose mission is to create a world of well, and marrying it to a digital network, that Health in Her Hue already has and that fosters community and connection: we will be able to create a solution that will advance better birth outcomes for African American women.
Acquisition Diagram:
Supporting Evidence:
We presented a case study as we were expecting questions of the following nature:
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Is this doable?
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Has something of this nature been successful before?
Model Case Study
New York-Presbyterian Hospital + Columbia University Medical Center
In October 2010, these two institutions launched an integrated network of patient-centered medical homes that were linked to other providers and community-based resources and formed a "medical village."
Three years later...
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Emergency department visits were reduced by 29.7%
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Hospitalizations were reduced by 28.5%
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Thirty-day readmissions declined by 36.7%
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Average length-of-stay declined by 4.9%
New York-Presbyterian experienced a short-term return on investment of 11%
User Journey (pre acquisition)
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User Journey (post acquisition)
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How we suggest implementing
culturally competent care within J&J:
We spoke to members within the J&J ecosystem to understand what they need to successfully execute and fulfill a Merger & Acquisition of this nature?
Needs assessment and monitoring of organizational changes
Creation of positions or teams to monitor the acquisition and onboarding
Development of strong action plans
Leadership buy-in
Promoting structural changes within the organization
Feedback:
"This sensitive topic was handled with a lot of care and empathy. The ask is reasonable and is very well thought out. It is a convincing pitch and its amazing that such an impactful project was executed in such a short amount of time."
Lona Vincent
Design, Strategy and Innovation Leader
Johnson & Johnson
Why this matters? + What did I learn?
My biggest takeaway from this project was the fact that sometimes resources to solving existing problems are already out there. Every solution does not have to be a brand new innovation. It can be as simple as connecting 2 organizations that have shared interests.