Uber Health

Journey & Touchpoint Mapping
Service Design
Product Design
Uber Health is a healthcare logistics platform that connects patients with transportation, healthcare services, and essential deliveries. While the platform serves a wide range of healthcare needs, this project focused on improving the Employee Assistance Plan (EAP) experience for employees accessing workplace health benefits.
A service design approach was used to address low activation and utilization rates. The redesign streamlined benefit discovery, appointment booking, and claims submission, while strengthening human touchpoints to deliver a more seamless and trustworthy healthcare experience.

Timeline

10 weeks (2024)
‍

Tools

Figma, Figjam, Capcut

Role

• Led research analysis
• User interviews & usability testing
• Prototyping & visual design

Team

Parita Patel, Amelia Du, Helen Chan, Zoey Zhou, Myself

00 - Background

The Problem

Young professionals accessing Employee Assistance Plans (EAPs) through Uber Health faced barriers that limited service activation and use. Scattered benefit information, fragmented booking experiences, and complex claims processes caused frustration and led many users to abandon the service early. Without clear guidance or supportive touchpoints, employees struggled to navigate their healthcare benefits effectively.

The Solution

The Uber Health EAP experience was redesigned to provide a clearer, more connected journey for employees. Centralized benefit information, streamlined appointment booking, Uber ride coordination, and simplified claims submission were integrated into a single platform. New human touchpoints—including healthcare-trained Uber drivers and supportive clinic staff—were introduced to reinforce trust and deliver a smoother healthcare experience.

How does Uber Health Works?

To communicate the redesigned experience, a video prototype was developed, illustrating how digital flows and personal interactions combine to support employees from benefit discovery to post-appointment follow-up. Click below to view the redesigned journey.

Service Design Approach

The project followed an iterative service design approach, connecting digital flows and real-world interactions. Both digital screens and human touchpoints were tested and refined. Feedback from users shaped each iteration, ensuring the final experience bridged technology and personal care for young professionals navigating their health benefits.

01 - Discovery

Current EAP Statistics

Despite its goal of supporting employee health, the Employee Assistance Plan (EAP) showed low engagement and satisfaction. Poor activation, utilization, and recommendation rates, along with minimal personal account conversion, revealed a clear gap between the service’s promise and the actual user experience. The data pointed to an urgent need for a redesigned, more employee-centered journey.
Activation Rate:
35%
(target: 50%)
Utilization Rate:
3%
(target: 15%)
Likelihood to Recommend:
2/10
(target: 6/10)

Current Uber Health Service

To understand where the EAP experience was falling short, it was essential to analyze the existing Uber Health service. While the platform supports non-emergency transportation, home health visits, and essential deliveries through a HIPAA-compliant, multilingual system, the EAP journey lacked cohesion. The review revealed missed connections between digital and human touchpoints, making it difficult for employees to navigate their benefits with confidence.

Co-Creation Workshop

To better understand employees’ real-world experiences with the EAP, a co-creation workshop was conducted with 5 participants. The goal was to explore their healthcare journeys, emotional responses, and expectations when accessing services through an EAP.
The session included whiteboard activities and a storyboard walkthrough. Participants responded to prompts about accessibility, service preferences based on medical severity, and usage of EAP benefits. These exercises helped reveal where expectations aligned or clashed with the current system and informed the next phase of design.
The storyboard illustrated a non-emergency care scenario involving at-home physiotherapy and prescription delivery via Uber.

Key Insight from the Workshop

The workshop surfaced a number of recurring themes that revealed where the current EAP experience breaks down—and what employees truly need in a supportive healthcare journey.
1. Lack of upfront clarity discouraged use
Participants frequently hesitated to use EAP benefits due to uncertainty around coverage, reimbursement, and what services were included.

“If I know it’s not covered upfront, I can’t be bothered to do a LOT of research to know how much is covered and how to claim.”

— Workshop Participant
2. Service fragmentation led to confusion
Navigating between multiple websites, contact points, and unclear instructions left participants feeling overwhelmed and discouraged.

“You end up wasting too much time to find that they cover only a little bit of the amount.”

— Workshop Participant
3. Trust and transparency were critical for healthcare delivery
While many appreciated the idea of home visits and Uber-enabled services, participants raised concerns about trusting drivers and the lack of transparency around timelines, identity verification, and delivery security.

“It’s a great idea, but health is more serious than takeout. What if the meds go missing?”

— Workshop Participant
4. Human touchpoints build emotional security
Participants expressed a strong need for reassurance, whether during a ride, a call, or a clinic visit. Simple features like communication preferences, trusted delivery systems, or ride tracking made them feel safer and more supported.

“Sometimes I just don’t want to talk. If the driver knew that beforehand, I’d feel better about the trip.”

— Workshop Participant

02 - Mapping

Touchpoint Map

Building on the findings from the Discovery phase, a touchpoint map was created to visualize user interactions across five key stages: Research, Book an Appointment, Getting to Appointment, Claiming Benefit, and Follow-up after Service. Users were found to navigate between multiple disconnected systems—including the Uber Health app, EAP websites, clinic platforms, and external resources like Google and family recommendations. This fragmented experience reinforced the need for a more cohesive and transparent service journey.

As-Is Customer Journey Map

After that, a customer journey map was created to illustrate the experience of Ria, a young professional using the EAP service to seek dental care. Her journey covered the five stages mentioned above. Ria’s emotional experience shifted from confusion to skepticism, contentment, disappointment, and uncertainty, reflecting challenges with unclear information, fragmented systems, and trust concerns. Mapping her experience helped identify critical breakdown moments that shaped the design focus.

3 Pivotal Points

Three pivotal points were identified where the EAP experience consistently broke down:
1. Confusion around claim options
Confusing and fragmented benefit information led many users to abandon the process before booking any services. Finding clear coverage details required navigating multiple disconnected platforms.
2. Booking an Appointment
Uncertainty around payment methods, insurance details, and service confirmation created frustration during the booking process. Users were unclear whether upfront payment was needed and struggled to provide required information to clinics.
3. Claiming the Benefit
The claims process was time-consuming and difficult to navigate. Users often faced multiple platforms, unclear submission steps, and delays, discouraging them from claiming reimbursements and reducing trust in the EAP.

03 - Design & 04 - Iteration

Ideation

Building on the pivotal points identified, ideation sessions focused on reducing fragmentation and streamlining the EAP experience. Ideas were organized around three core stages of the journey:
• Research: Solutions such as a centralized benefits dashboard, clearer coverage visualization, and clinic recommendation features were proposed to simplify initial discovery and decision-making.
• Booking an Appointment: Personalization was emphasized, including options to streamline appointment booking, real-time ride tracking, and ride coordination with healthcare providers.
• Claiming Benefit: To reduce friction, concepts like seamless claims filing, automatic benefit tracking, and real-time status notifications were explored to minimize manual paperwork and delays.

1st Design Sprint

The first design sprint focused on validating early ideas through a mid-fidelity prototype, using task-based usability testing with a think-aloud approach. Testing was conducted with 4 participants, centered around three key journeys: discovering benefits, booking an appointment, and submitting a claim. Findings from this sprint directly informed the next iteration of the design.
↓ Check out the mid-fi prototype used for the 1st design sprint.

Key Insights from 1st Design Sprint

6 main issues were found during the first design sprint:
1. Confusion around claim options
2. Hidden Invoices and Poor Navigation Visibility
3. Unclear Service Concept During Onboarding
4. Trust and Safety Concerns
5. Lack of Provider Personalization
6. Absence of Human Touchpoints

2nd Design Sprint

After refining the digital prototype and introducing new human interaction prototypes, a second round of testing was conducted to validate improvements. Four participants completed task-based usability tests using a think-aloud approach, covering the same core journeys as Sprint 1, along with newly added human service touchpoints such as Uber driver communication and front desk support. The sprint evaluated whether both digital and real-world interactions better addressed the key pain points identified earlier.
↓ Check out the mid-fi prototype used for the 2nd design sprint.
Several improvements on this prototype were made based on feedbacks from Sprint 1:
✅ Introduction to Uber Health in Onboarding
✅ Optional Uber Ride During Appointment Booking
✅ Tooltip for Free Uber Ride During Booking
✅ Contextual Onboarding for Key Features like View Appointment Booking and Auto-Claim
✅ Consent Requirement for Auto-Claim

Key Insights from 2nd Design Sprint

Sprint 2 revealed both positive feedback on improvements and some concerns that pointed to areas still needing work.
1. Onboarding Improved Understanding of Uber Health
2. Ride Booking Toggle and Tooltip Increased User Control
3. Mid-Way Onboarding Was More Effective Than Full Intro Screens
4. Consent Screen Clarified the Auto-Claim Process
5. Human Touchpoints Helped Users Understand the Service Flow
6. Care Coordinator Role Was Confusing Without Clear Context
7. Trust and Safety Concerns Remained Around At-Home Visits

05 - Design Outcome

New User Journey

Refined using insights from two rounds of testing, this new user journey illustrates the improved end-to-end experience through the perspective of Ria, a young professional accessing care through Uber Health. The journey includes both in-clinic and at-home appointment scenarios, showcasing how the service adapts to different needs and contexts. A storyboard maps Ria’s experience from discovering her EAP benefits to booking an appointment, taking an Uber Health ride, interacting with an Uber driver, a clinic receptionist, and a physiotherapist, and completing the auto-claim process.
↓ Let’s walk through Ria’s journey below ↓
To complement the service journey storyboard, the following screens highlight the digital side of Ria’s at-home care experience. These high-fidelity prototype clips show how she interacts with key features in the Uber Health app—from booking a physiotherapy visit to tracking the provider’s ride, giving feedback, and completing the auto-claim process.
↓ Let’s view the digital side here ↓

1. Booking an Appointment and Ride

Ria filters clinics by distance, rating, and availability, then reviews provider details such as credentials and spoken languages. She books an at-home physiotherapy visit, requests Uber Health transportation for the provider, and can view the appointment details from her dashboard.

2. Getting Ready for the Visit

On the day of her appointment, Ria receives a reminder and can track the incoming Uber Health ride bringing the physiotherapist to her home. She’s also given a booking number and has the option to chat with a health coordinator if anything goes wrong before or during the visit.

3. Rating the At-Home Care Experience

After the appointment, Ria rates her physiotherapist and leaves feedback to reflect her experience with the at-home visit.

4. Auto-Claiming EAP Benefits

After the session, Ria taps the dashboard notification to view her invoice, reviews the claim details, gives consent, and completes the auto-claim process in just a few steps.

06 - Reflection

Lesson Learned

Aligning Design Decisions with Business Strategy
Rather than proposing entirely new systems, the design prioritized enhancements to existing Uber Health infrastructure to ensure feasibility and alignment with organizational goals. Feature decisions were guided by potential impact and return on investment, balancing user needs with realistic delivery constraints.
Using Role-Playing to Surface Pain Points and Align Stakeholders
Role-playing helped simulate real-world healthcare journeys and exposed subtle user concerns that traditional methods may have missed. These sessions also provided a compelling way to communicate pain points and emotional gaps to stakeholders through visual storytelling.
Designing with Uncertainty and Technical Ambiguity
Without access to Uber Health’s technical backend or clear implementation constraints, design assumptions had to remain flexible. The final prototype focused on realistic enhancements that could be layered into the current system without overreliance on speculative features.
Integrating Human Touchpoints to Build Trust
Designing for human interaction went beyond simply adding service moments—it required considering how trust is built through timing, clarity, and context. Testing revealed that users felt most supported when human touchpoints were seamlessly integrated into moments of uncertainty, such as during home visits or ride coordination. This reinforced the importance of designing not just for functionality, but for emotional reassurance.

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