MOBILE APP · HEALTHFIRST · SHIPPED 2023
Easing Access and Usability to the OTC Health Insurance Benefit
Key Results
Drove a measurable lift in digital OTC card activations after the first release
Contributed to an increase in Healthfirst mobile app downloads
Brought the OTC benefit fully into Healthfirst's branded
Role & Client
Role: UX Designer
Company: Kin and Carta
Client: Healthfirst Health Insurance
Skills
User Research · Feature Prioritization · Prototyping · Usability Testing · Design Systems · Cross-functional Collaboration
OVERVIEW
What if members could access their most-used insurance benefit inside the app they already trust?
scope.
Healthfirst's Over-the-Counter (OTC) benefit gives members a preloaded card to buy approved health items at participating stores. But the experience lived on a glitchy, third-party site with no Healthfirst branding — and members couldn't even check their balance inside Healthfirst's own apps. As the mobile designer on a Kin and Carta team, I led the UX for bringing this benefit fully into the Healthfirst mobile app.
Solution
A one-stop OTC experience, designed for the moments it's actually used:
View balanace, eligible products, retailers, and reimbursement
All in one place. The three categories members reached for most are surfaced directly on the home screen.
Scan a product in-store to check OTC eligibility instantly
A mobile-only feature built for the exact in-aisle moment members described. Point your camera at a product and know immediately.
Submit a reimbursement digitally
Replaces a phone-and-paper process with a guided in-app flow. No calls, no paperwork.
CHALLENGE
Building trust where members had stopped expecting it.
scope.
he OTC benefit was already one of Healthfirst's most-used benefits, but every interaction happened on a third-party site that members described as glitchy, off-brand, and confusing. Stakeholder interviews surfaced an additional layer: this benefit was strategic for Healthfirst, because growing digital engagement directly impacts the STAR rating that determines federal Medicare funding.
HMW
How might we bring the OTC benefit into Healthfirst's app in a way that's intuitive, trustworthy, and useful in the exact moments members reach for it?
DISCOVERY
I had to learn the current OTC experience before before I could redesign it.
scope.
I walked through the existing third-party experience myself: activating a card, navigating the catalog, attempting a reimbursement. That hands-on time made the pain points visceral instead of abstract before I sat down with members.
Members previously accessed OTC through a glitchy third-party desktop only site with no Healthfirst branding.
What we heard in 8 interviews
A dedicated map view that replaces the data table as the primary way to navigate: turning a 600-acre operation into something a rep can see in two seconds.
01
The third-party experience broke trust
The site members used didn't carry Healthfirst's branding and was prone to glitches. Members assumed problems were Healthfirst's fault even when they happened off-platform.
02
Members didn't know what OTC actually covered
Most thought OTC was limited to personal health and hygiene. One only discovered the card also covered produce after calling support for an unrelated issue.
03
In-store, the card was a source of embarrassment
Members regularly used the card at independent pharmacies where clerks weren't familiar with it, and items routinely got rejected at checkout in front of other shoppers.
KEY INSIGHT
Members didn't need more education instead they needed answers in the exact moment they had questions.
Three competing forces
Healthfirst wasn't designing in a vacuum. Every prioritization decision was filtered through three lenses: member needs (clear, in-moment answers), a constrained third-party API (inconsistent and limited), and a business mandate (drive digital engagement to improve STAR rating).
DESIGN PROCESS
Working with constraints as design partners.
scope.
Prioritizing the MVP
I worked with PM and engineering to narrow scope by triangulating between member needs, API constraints, and business goals. Five features made the MVP:
View OTC balance
the #1 thing members couldn't currently do in-app
Find eligible products
directly answers the aisle question
Find participating retailers
surfaces approved stores nearby
Submit reimbursement digitally
Replaces a paper/phone process
Education
answers "what is OTC?" without forcing a click-through
Prioritized by triangulating member value, API feasibility, and business goals (STAR rating impact). Product scan required a UX workaround for the API constraint.
Working with a Constrained API
The OTC network API was the single biggest design constraint. It was inconsistent, had unusual rules (e.g., users had to select a retailer before they could search for a product), and major changes weren't feasible inside our timeline.
Rather than fight the API, I treated developers as design partners from day one:
Constant communication with engineering and PM to surface limitations early
Continuous feasibility checks — prototypes shared in-progress, not at handoff
Creative UX workarounds when the API couldn't change
The "retailer-before-product" constraint became a clearer, more guided search flow — a searchable retailer dropdown, a meaningful empty state, and a helpful error if users tried to skip the step.
"When the API is the constraint, the designers who ship are the ones in constant conversation with developers, not the ones who hand off final mocks and hope."
Project Reflection
A backend constraint, turned into a more guided product-search flow.
Competitive Analysis
Before high-fidelity design, I audited mobile patterns from healthcare, benefits, and retail apps to understand best practices for on-the-go member moments.
Pattern audit of comparable mobile apps.
Usability Testing
I tested the concept with members to validate that we'd prioritized the right MVP features and that the experience was usable on mobile. The features we'd identified mapped tightly to what members reached for. Round-two testing surfaced confusion about the feature's architecture, which led to a key design decision: surface the three most-valued categories directly on the home screen, so members landed on what they came for.
Testing insights and the iterations they drove.
Mimicking Real Life
KEY DESIGN DECISIONS
Simple, in-context navigation Three categories, Balance, Products, Retailers all anchor the home screen.
The final in-app card design mirrors the physical OTC card members carry, reducing cognitive load and signaling instantly: this is your OTC benefit.
Final iteration of the in-app OTC card.
FINAL DESIGN
A mobile feature members can actually use in the aisle.
scope.
In the final design, members can do all of this inside the Healthfirst app: view their OTC balance, browse and search eligible products, find participating retailers, scan items in-store, submit a digital reimbursement form, and learn how the benefit works.
Final feature flow inside the Healthfirst mobile app.
Mobile - Only: Product Scan
The single most mobile-native decision in this project came from one repeated story: members felt embarrassed at checkout when items were rejected. That insight only emerges if you're listening for emotion, not just task flow.
In collaboration with developers, we added a barcode scan: members point their camera at a product in-store and immediately know if it's OTC-eligible. The friction removed was both practical and emotional.
Product scan turns an in-aisle moment of uncertainty into a quick check.
IMPACT
Measurable results for a benefit members actually use.
scope.
The first release drove a measurable lift in digital OTC card activations and contributed to an increase in Healthfirst mobile app downloads. Both are meaningful signals for a company whose STAR rating depends on digital engagement.
Just as importantly, the OTC benefit now lives where members already expect to find it: inside Healthfirst's own app, with Healthfirst's branding and reliability. The third-party experience is no longer a barrier between members and a benefit they actively use.
Lift in digital OTC card activations
Growth in Healthfirst app downloads
STAR
Positive impact on Medicare engagement rating
REFLECTION
What I learned.
01
Treat engineering as a design partner, not a downstream filter.
When the API is the constraint, the designers who ship are the ones in constant conversation with developers — not the ones who hand off final mocks and hope. The API limitations on this project became creative prompts because we sat with them together.
02
Real-life mimicry is a cognitive shortcut.
Mirroring the physical OTC card in the digital experience saved members a step they didn't know they were taking. Recognition is faster than reading. When a digital object can visually translate a physical one, take the shortcut.
03
Mobile-specific moments deserve mobile-specific design.
The product scan only existed because we listened for the physical, emotional moments members described — uncertainty in the aisle, embarrassment at checkout. Mobile context-of-use isn't a constraint to design around; it's a feature waiting to be designed for.