Designing the core of a digital-first health plan for 13,000 members.
When the scope was smaller than the opportunity, I elevated the strategy, united five cross-functional pods, and shaped a care experience that could set a new bar for digital-first plan design.
Our largest enterprise client wanted to build something that didn't exist yet: a digital-first health plan designed to actually drive outcomes, not just cover costs. AI at the center, primary care as the anchor, a knowledgeable care team supporting members between visits. The pilot would serve 13,000 members and, if it worked, become a new product line. What we had when I joined wasn't yet worthy of that bet.
What I did
Five pods were building in isolation with no shared view of the end-to-end experience. I spearheaded and facilitated an experience mapping session that got the whole design team looking at the full member journey together — activation, AI onboarding, the primary care visit, and what comes after. We found the gaps before they became launch problems.
Where early testing showed us usability issues in the MVP, I pushed for richer solutions rather than letting feasibility arguments win. I coached the product team on where the experience was dropping members and what it would actually take to hold their trust through a complex health decision. And I built our testing and learning strategy from scratch alongside a senior UX researcher and product insights expert — pre-launch, post-launch, and a daily standup after we went live to move fast on anything the data flagged.
Most people don't engage with their health plan until something goes wrong. We had a chance to change that.
Emily Schmittler
Member Ai onboarding experience
Rich UI in Ai chat experience to help members choose a provider and appointment time
Designing with AI
The hardest problem wasn't the interface — it was calibrating how much the AI could do and how visible that should be. Our onboarding agent needed to feel warm and helpful without feeling intrusive, and it needed to surface health concerns members might never think to mention on a clinical intake form.
We knew from earlier research that when people are invited to share what's contributing to their health in an open, conversational way, they share far more than they do on a standard form. We built that insight in from the start. It's one of the clearest reasons the clinical visits are going as deep as they are.
Impact
4×Higher member activation vs. the broader population (36% vs. 9.5%)
6.4/7Customer Effort Score for AI onboarding — far exceeding healthcare benchmarks
4.9/5Post-visit satisfaction score across the pilot population
↑One of the smoothest launches in Included Health history — due to early testing and cross-functional coordination
What the numbers mean
A member who had logged ten urgent care visits the prior year scheduled their first virtual primary care appointment. In that one visit: pregnancy support, missed lab work, and anxiety care — all addressed, because the AI intake had surfaced them ahead of time.
A stroke survivor confused by conflicting clinical guidance got an expert medical opinion within days, and left with a clear path to the right procedure at a high-outcome center of excellence.
A member who came in worried about a wrong prescription left with that fixed, plus anxiety care, closed care gaps, a smoking cessation referral, and a lung cancer screening order.
This is what 4x engagement actually looks like. And it's what positioned this pilot as a new strategic product line for Included Health.
Interested in the full case study? I'm happy to walk through the strategy, the design decisions, and the team dynamics in depth.
Your creative spark is unmatched at the company. You bring joy to every interaction and you got me to think bigger than I would have on my own. I'd be lucky to work with a design partner even half as good as you in the future.
— Senior Director of Product Management
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