Simplified Appointment Making

Making an appointment with a major health system involves more paths than most users expect. There are many ways to schedule or request an appointment — and not all options are available to every patient. Over time, many individual callouts had been created to address different scenarios, creating inconsistency for users and complexity for the teams building the pages. The goal was to map every path, find where they converge, and design a single flexible solution that works for everyone.

The Problem With many possibilities and many callouts, decision-making for both users and content editors had become fragmented. Simplifying it required understanding every user type and every appointment scenario before any design work could begin.

Research Goals Identify all user types and the appointment options available to each. Document user flows for every type and scenario combination. Find where paths overlap to determine where consolidation is possible. Recommend a callout solution that works for both data-connected and non-data-connected contexts.

Method User types and appointment options were researched simultaneously by reviewing current callouts, specialty appointment pages, and MyChart options, and by discussing scenarios directly with service line content editors. User flows were documented for every combination found.

Two solutions were recommended: one connected to databases to dynamically surface exact MyChart links and phone numbers based on user need, and one designed for immediate implementation without requiring database connections.

Outcome A simplified callout was designed that combines all possible scenarios into a single flexible presentation. It gives every user type the information they need, satisfies the business objective of directing users to online resources when available, and limits call center overload by deferring to technology wherever it is the most efficient path. The solution works for patients and for the editors who maintain the pages.