The BC Provincial Government cares about proper health coverage for its residents and a stress-free application experience. But for the 130,000 people who move to BC each year, the Medical Service Plan (MSP) application experience was far from offering peace of mind.
CHALLENGE
The BC Provincial Government wanted to help as many new residents as they could. However, with a complex application process where 30% of first attempts and 55% of second attempts had to be returned, they knew it was time to change the system.
INSIGHTS
In 2017, Harmonesse worked with the Government’s internal team performing extensive interviews with citizens, Health Insurance BC staff, and third party support organizations. Harmonesse also reviewed trends across Canada and assessed current application artifacts against a set of design principles.
Strategic recommendations emerged from the research which the teams explored in sprints and led to an initial MVP.
SOLUTION
The simplicity of this execution hides the complexity of the problems it solves. MSP applications are now easier to understand, prepare, submit, and get approved. And secondary features like adding multiple family members or applying for financial support for healthcare premiums are now accessible in one interaction.
Six months after launch, the new application solution is showing a reduction in error rate from 40% to just 1%. The BC Government received a standing ovation at a recent national conference for their effort. Another successful outcome was an attitude change towards innovation, embedding service design within the BC Ministry of Health's way of working.
The results are big efficiencies in administration, reduced application issues, shorter processing times, and increased revenue as abandonment rates drop while people receive coverage sooner. And this is just the beginning. The BC Government is now looking into bringing other health-related applications online to continue personalizing their digital services.
"It's been mind-boggling how much change you’ve created in such a short time. In 11 years we've only managed on to change 1 letter. This application design is major. Just incredible." - Edda, Health Insurance BC
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