Author: Chris Davis – Principal Designer, Mindforge
Introduction
As the healthcare sector becomes increasingly digitized, UX professionals face unique challenges in designing user-centered solutions that meet the needs of patients, providers, and healthcare organizations. While the promise of improving healthcare experiences through technology is immense, healthcare systems often present substantial obstacles that need careful navigation. From technical limitations and legacy systems to provider resistance and regulatory constraints, UX designers in the healthcare space must adopt creative and strategic approaches to overcome these challenges without sacrificing user experience or innovation.
The structure of the design engagement proposal plays a critical role in setting the tone and trajectory for the entire initiative. A well-framed proposal does more than outline scope and timelines—it proactively addresses the complexities of client commitment, product delivery, regulatory and stakeholder engagement. By clearly defining decision-making roles, outlining phased delivery tied to client readiness, and embedding checkpoints for clinical, legal, and technical input, the proposal becomes a shared blueprint for accountability and progress. It signals to the client that you're not just designing a solution but actively managing the conditions for its success.
Navigating Technical Limitations and Legacy Systems
Legacy systems are a significant challenge in healthcare environments. Many healthcare organizations still rely on outdated, cumbersome systems that were not designed with user experience in mind. These systems can be incompatible with modern technologies, creating obstacles for implementing innovative UX designs that would enhance the user experience for both patients and healthcare providers.
UX professionals must approach legacy systems with a deep understanding of both the technical constraints and the needs of the users who interact with these systems. And while UX designers should have a good understanding of the technical aspects of their projects they need to collaborate closely with a diversity of stakeholders, including IT teams, administrators, clinicians, and patients, often with conflicting needs and priorities. Senior UX designers must align these groups by facilitating collaboration and advocating for solutions that balance user needs with business goals.
One of the best practices for navigating technical limitations is conducting a thorough assessment of existing systems and their capabilities. This allows UX designers to identify the systems' strengths and weaknesses, providing a roadmap for designing a more seamless user experience within the constraints of these technologies. Whereas the Business Model Canvas focuses on the core components of a business such as customer segments, value proposition, and revenue streams, Service Design takes a broader approach. For instance, service design is focused on improving service delivery by aligning the needs of users, the goals of the organization, and the capabilities of the service. When dealing with legacy systems, service design considers the entire experience across all touchpoints, including people, processes, and physical environments and can help to identify pain points and areas where technical limitations might be addressed or mitigated. Essentially, the canvas is a framework for the business model, while service design is a more holistic approach to crafting customer experience within that model.
Additionally, Design Thinking workshops tailored to healthcare stakeholders encourage a deep understanding of user needs and the context in which the product will be used. It also stresses the importance of working within existing technical limitations, as designers and product strategists collaborate with stakeholders to identify realistic and feasible solutions. For example, a team at Cerner (now Oracle Health) used Design Thinking to integrate their EHR (Electronic Health Records) system with Apple's HealthKit. The team empathized with healthcare providers’ frustration with siloed data and technical limitations in legacy systems, defining the challenge of creating a seamless experience. By prototyping solutions and testing with users (healthcare professionals), they were able to implement an integration that allowed providers to access real-time health data while adhering to system constraints. This approach helped the team innovate within legacy system limitations and meet users' needs.
Adapting to a Digital Health Product
In the context of a mental health app for a digital startup, where users track mood, receive CBT-based guidance, and connect with coaching or therapy support, aligning product delivery with clinical and regulatory expectations is critical. Consider structuring delivery in tiers—starting with a non-clinical MVP (Minimal Value Product) to test onboarding, journaling, and habit-forming nudges, while developing a separate module that requires sign-off from licensed clinicians for content targeting higher-acuity symptoms. This dual-path delivery helps to maintain velocity while showing clinical partners you’re serious about safe design. Learn to sync your release cycles with your healthcare partners’ timelines—such as their quarterly product reviews or internal ethics board meetings—so you’re not pushing new features into a void.
Healthcare companies often involve multiple stakeholders. Client commitments need to be reframed in terms of shared accountability. Piloting with integrated behavioral health teams at clinics, your champion—a clinical innovation lead—may not be the person to sign off on data sharing workflows or content moderation policies. This can delay the launch until you clarify who owns those decisions. Consider building stakeholder mapping and RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) planning into your kickoff: identifying not just who has decision-making power, but who feels accountable for patient risk. For example, a medical director might need to vet any user-facing advice that could be construed as diagnostic. Also consider the value in running simulated “what if” walkthroughs—e.g., “What happens if a user reports suicidal ideation?”—to align the product’s logic and escalation pathways with the client’s care protocols and risk tolerance.
Balancing Healthcare Provider Resistance with Innovation
UX designers can and often should lead change programs, especially when the change is focused on improving user experience within a product or service, as their deep understanding of user needs and ability to design intuitive interfaces makes them well-suited to navigate the change process and ensure user adoption. That said, during a time when health care is undergoing the most sweeping change ever, health systems, not surprisingly, are struggling to overcome resistance to change.
Healthcare providers, often overburdened and resistant to change, pose a challenge to UX professionals. Many healthcare professionals are hesitant to adopt new technologies or workflows, especially if the technology adds complexity to their already demanding tasks. This resistance can be even more pronounced when they are faced with systems they have used for years, even decades.
Research and the experience of McLeod Regional Health shows that engaging those most resistant to change—by empathizing with them, understanding the roots of their resistance, and helping them view change in a positive light—is an effective approach. To effectively balance provider resistance with innovation, UX designers must focus on building trust and demonstrating the value of new technologies. By encouraging stakeholders to share their perspectives on what worked and what didn’t, you empower them to take ownership of the initiative and contribute to driving it forward. The design thinking process, often employed by UX designers, encourages empathy, experimentation, and iteration, which are valuable skills for navigating change management.
Approaches to Regulatory and Compliance Challenges
Healthcare UX designers also face the challenge of designing solutions that comply with strict regulatory and compliance challenges. UX designers need to work closely with their compliance department, whose function is to monitor adherence to regulatory and compliance standards. However, regulatory and compliance challenges do not need to stifle creativity.
The key to overcoming regulatory hurdles lies in designing with compliance in mind from the very beginning of the project. This means integrating privacy protections, safety and security features into the design, rather than attempting to address them at a later stage.
For instance, AliveCor a company specializing in mobile ECG devices, navigated FDA regulatory approval for its KardiaMobile product while maintaining a creative user experience design and business model. The compliance team worked closely with the FDA to ensure that the device met all necessary health and safety regulations. AliveCor also focused on designing a simple, intuitive app interface that would make complex health data accessible to a broad user base. By balancing regulatory needs with user-centered design, AliveCor succeeded in bringing an innovative product to market.
In the mental health space, it’s easy to inadvertently cross regulatory lines—especially when mixing educational tools with symptom monitoring or mood tracking. For instance, an early feature may offer daily mood-driven affirmations that, while helpful to users, raise red flags about implied clinical guidance. It’s important to consult with legal advisors, creating distinct pathways: one for general wellness (not requiring clinical oversight), and another for provider-linked interventions, where your messaging is reviewed and approved by a licensed therapist. Consider embedding lightweight HIPAA and 42 CFR Part 2 compliance checks into your prototyping cycle—ensuring, for example, that metadata like message timestamps or location tracking is explicitly opted into and encrypted at rest. These early investments in “compliance by design” will pay off during due diligence with health plans and potential channel partners.
Conclusion
Navigating the complex landscape of healthcare UX design requires creativity, patience, and a strategic approach. By embracing best practices in handling technical limitations, addressing provider resistance, and managing regulatory challenges, UX professionals can deliver meaningful, user-centered experiences that improve the healthcare ecosystem for all stakeholders.
Further Reading and Resources
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Case Studies:
- Mayo Clinic’s Move to a Single Enterprise-Wide EHR – by Shannon Counselman, MBA, unit manager, Mayo Clinic; Emily Hamilton, MA, principal health systems engineer, Mayo Clinic; Sonia Martindale Mathern, MHA, MBA, senior principal health systems engineer, Mayo Clinic; and Kassandra Young, MS, senior health systems engineer, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
- From Smartphone to EHR: A Case Report on Integrating Patient Generated Health Data – by Eric E. Schadt and Yu-Feng Yvonne Chan
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Articles:
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Books:
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Tools:
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