Healthcare Creating a Digital Patient Experience Tactile Medical We provided Tactile with a strategic approach to create the right digital experience for the patients who use their hardware devices. Overview Treating Patients at Their Home Tactile Medical develops at-home therapies that improve people’s lives with lymphedema, lipedema, and chronic venous insufficiency. To further enhance patients’ experience, the company sought to educate them on their chronic condition through a patient-friendly mobile application. Challenge Tactile began a journey of defining a digital component to extend the capabilities of its physical products and assist patients in taking control of their treatment. Insight With a digital footprint expanding at a tremendous rate, healthcare pushes companies in the sector to constantly look for ways to integrate software technologies seamlessly into their business. Solution We provided Tactile with a cloud-based mobile app to go with the patients’ compression pump device and serve as an information platform, order tracking system, and patient journey manager. HARDWARE DEVICE Chronic Conditions Therapy Tactile Medical develops pneumatic compression devices that help patients with lymphedema, lipedema, and chronic venous insufficiency manage their symptoms. The device is roughly the size of a home printer and pumps pressurized air through hoses into a garment attached to an affected body area, thus improving lymphatic fluid movement. Previously, with only the hardware device available, the patient experience lacked the accessibility, efficiency, and support that a digital solution can offer end-users. We wanted to provide patients with a connected device that helps them manage their care as they go through treatment. Since this is an at-home therapy, a digital assistant made the most sense. Jeremy Schroetter Vice President, Digital Solutions, Тactile Medical DIGITAL SOLUTION A Digitalized Patient Journey To help Tactile Medical on its digital patient journey, we created a mobile application that connects to the medical device via Bluetooth and guides patients through treatment. It has several components: a knowledge section where users learn about different aspects of their chronic condition, an order tracker, a segment where patients track their symptoms and treatment sessions, and an option to share treatment logs with their healthcare provider. We developed and deployed the mobile app using Azure on both iOS and Android. The application is almost entirely back-end-driven, allowing changes to be made without a new mobile client version. UI components, texts, and even communication with the hardware device are controlled on the back-end, thus reducing the number of required updates by end-users. Тhe back-end-driven approach also relates to the choice of Contentful as a content management platform where the different resources reside and can be added, edited, and removed dynamically. Services UX / UI DesignElevate Your User Experience Mobile DevelopmentConnect With Your Users Quality AssuranceEnsure the quality of your software Cloud and DevOpsFuture-proof and Scale Your Infrastructure PROCESS Building Up Functionalities Our engagement with Tactile Medical started as a two-phase project in which we built the digital solution from scratch. In phase one of the project, we developed functionality centered around helping patients identify their symptoms, track their condition, and discuss it in greater detail when meeting with their physician. Additionally, we integrated with the client’s existing CRM system for device shipment and order tracking so that the application could pull order statuses and provide them to users. We also added a section with personalized resources about the relevant health condition. Initially, patients had to select their device model manually by browsing through a list. They also needed to enter the data from each treatment session manually. To improve this aspect of the patient experience, we moved the project into phase two: Bluetooth integration. Phase two enabled device details and treatment data to be automatically transferred from the hardware device to the mobile app. A sharing function allows treatment logs gathered by the app to be sent to healthcare providers. After phase two wrapped, a smaller MentorMate team partnered with Tactile Medical to add new functionalities regularly. We treat MentorMate folks as an extension of our team. We ultimately work for two companies, but we act and feel like one team. Jeremy Schroetter Vice President, Digital Solutions, Тactile Medical DESIGN The Right Digital UX The ultimate goal of the digital solution — to effectively guide users on how to use the device to manage their symptoms — was a top priority for our design team. At the project’s onset, we had an on-site immersion session with the client to learn about their product, users, and their medical conditions and understand the company’s business objectives. From there, we developed a set of comprehensive wireframes to define the app experience for users. We then brought the entire experience to life through a new UI concept before launching into design production. MentorMate worked very closely with us to understand how we wanted to help our patients better manage their chronic condition. The result is that our mobile app is the leader in the lymphedema product and treatment categories. Dick Young Director of Product Marketing, Tactile Medical IMPACT Continuous Improvement of the Patient Experience The launch of the mobile app helped Tactile Medical add a connected device to its portfolio and stay competitive in the medical device market. The positive patient response to the digital solution proves that establishing a digital connection with the patient was a strong business move for the company. Drawing on the data they collect from the app, Tactile Medical can learn about user habits and behaviors and get a further understanding of how patients use the device. Ultimately, the analysis of the gathered data allows the company to continuously make improvements to its products. You might also like Other FeaturedCase Studies Case study Pelvital Case study Canon Medical SERIOUSLY CUSTOM SOFTWARE Distinctly Designed. Brilliantly Built. Everyone working on your project is fully invested in its success. 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We provided Tactile with a strategic approach to create the right digital experience for the patients who use their hardware devices.