UCSF MY health

From scattered systems to a unified dashboard experience for internal efficiency.

Dashboard Design | Internal Tool | Enterprise UX

Overview

A redesign of UCSF’s MyChart platform focused on improving navigation, communication, and task efficiency for patients with chronic conditions.

My role

Conducting heuristic evaluation & user research

Synthesizing business strategy and user pain points

Creating design concepts, prototypes, and testing

Delivering a proposed design system

MyChart

MyChart is a widely used patient portal developed by Epic Systems, serving 165M+ patients worldwide.

Business Strategy

From rising patient demand to smarter self-service: aligning MyChart with UCSF’s strategy.

Strategic Investment & Digital Transformation

If MyChart does not evolve in parallel, patients may continue to face a “legacy system” experience that undermines UCSF’s broader digital transformation strategy.

Growth Pressure & Cost Management

Optimizing MyChart can reduce reliance on call centers, lower operational costs, and enable patients to self-manage care more effectively before and after visits.

Product Opportunity Analysis

Beyond Version Updates: Redesigning for Real Patient & Provider Needs

Collected and reviewed MyChart version history

Epic’s iterative updates improve compatibility and add features, but they don’t address UCSF’s bigger challenge: reducing care costs and improving patient–provider experiences within MyChart itself.

System-Oriented vs. User-Oriented

Missing: holistic improvements in navigation, information clarity, and billing transparency that directly impact patients.

Feature Expansion Without Integration

Patients face cognitive overload and providers see no real reduction in communication or admin burden.

Lost Opportunity to Lower Operational Costs

Current updates don’t reduce call volume, appointment confusion, or billing inquiries.

target User

Maria

Live in SF

UCSF outpatient

UHS Insurance

Age: 39

Maria has several chronic conditions that require regular lab tests, medication refills, and specialist visits. She logs into MyChart multiple times per week to:

Check lab results and upcoming appointments

Manage billing and insurance claims

Message her care team with questions about her conditions

scenario

Navigation
Menus confusing, shortcuts not intuitive

Message
Unsure if messages reach right provider; response times unclear

pain Points

Clarity

Simple, intuitive navigation

Assurance

Clear message routing & timelines

Expectation

Problem Statement

UCSF’s MyChart: Growing Demand, Rising Costs, Stagnant Experience

How might we simplify key workflows, so that patients can quickly complete frequent tasks and feel confident about communication with their providers?

Solution

Navigation

Simplified the information architecture by grouping high-frequency tasks into a navigation bar

Designed personalized shortcuts based on usage frequency, so patients can pin what matters most

Message

Introduced message categorization to guide users

Added response time indicators and clear routing

Impact

User（Patients）

Task Efficiency

Time to complete frequent tasks reduced by 30–40%

Information Access

Average wait time for clear, actionable responses shortened from 3-7 days → 1–2 days.

Satisfaction

Higher satisfaction in using digital tools (measured via SUS or survey), with a 20%+ increase.

UCSF Provider

Message Load

Incoming patient messages reduced in word count and better categorized, making triage faster.

Operational Savings

Estimated 15–20% reduction in unnecessary call volume and manual follow-ups.

Scalability

Staff can support growing patient volume without proportional increase in cost.

Critique

Current Problems

Navigation is confusing

Conversations are difficult to track

Important updates are hard to prioritize

Message composition is inefficient

user Research

Conducted a survey, then selected 3 representative users for in-depth interviews.

Goal: Understand main intents and frustrations when using MyChart.

Asked users to sort them on a 2x2 matrix:

Synthesis

From 50 scattered navigations to 4 clear categories

Useful

Useless

High Frequency

Low Frequency

Prioritized Navigation Shortcuts

Focusing on what patients truly use
Book an Appointment & Send Message as core actions + 5 supporting shortcuts

Interface Redesign

Reorganizing the Previous Version Homepage Layout

Key functions and user info buried in the header → patients lose orientation of what this platform offers.

Updates displayed as an unstructured list → no clear categorization, users can’t prioritize important information.

Design Rationale

With a more intuitive and focused homepage, patients can complete core tasks faster, doctors can be more efficient, and hospitals can operate at lower costs.

Concept 1