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Appl Clin Inform 2025; 16(01): 067-076
DOI: 10.1055/a-2425-8731
Research Article

A Human-Centered Approach for Designing a Social Care Referral Platform

David Haynes
1   Institute for Health Informatics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
2   XanthosHealth, Minneapolis, MN
,
Pengxu Cheng
3   College of Design, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
,
Megan Weaver
3   College of Design, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
,
Helen Parsons
4   School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
,
Pinar Karaca-Mandic
2   XanthosHealth, Minneapolis, MN
5   Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
› Author Affiliations Funding This work was funded primarily by an SBIR Phase I contract to XanthosHealth by the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute (FY21 SBIR Phase 1 Topic 423; Software to Address Social Determinants of Health in Oncology Practices; Contract: 75N91021C00044).
The earlier technology development was also supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health, award numbers UL1TR002494 and UL1TR002377.
The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
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Abstract

Background Health Information Technology is increasingly being used to help providers connect patients with community resources to meet health-related social needs (e.g., food, housing, transportation). Research is needed to design efficient, simple, and engaging interfaces during a sensitive process that involves multiple stakeholders. Research is also needed to understand the roles, expectations, barriers, and facilitators these different stakeholders (i.e., patients, providers, and community-based organizations [CBOs]) face during this process.

Objectives We applied the human-centered design approach to develop a multi-interface social care referral platform. This approach allowed us to understand the needs of each stakeholder and address potential workflow concerns.

Methods This paper reports on the research team's understanding of the design process from 48 different user tests. We conducted three rounds of user testing on an interactive prototype(s) and adapted the prototype after each round.

Results Our results summarize several key findings useful for patients, clinical teams, and staff of CBOs when designing a social care referral platform. Our user testing highlighted that patient-facing interfaces offer tremendous opportunities to allow patients to be the leader of the social care referral process. CBOs have varying needs that must be addressed, and providing CBO staff with opportunities to connect with patients is critical. Finally, health care teams have more structured workflows. Integration within the electronic health record system provides opportunities for health care staff to support their patients more easily given these barriers.

Conclusion Our resulting, patient-centered platform allows patients to self-screen and self-refer to organizations that match their unmet needs.

Keywords

health information technology - social care referral - human-centered design - social determinants of health

Protection of Human and Animal Subjects

This research was determined to be non-human subjects by the University of Minnesota Institutional Review Board.


Supplementary Material



Publication History

Received: 03 June 2024

Accepted: 29 September 2024

Accepted Manuscript online:
03 October 2024

Article published online:
22 January 2025

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