Challenge
Washington Healthplanfinder
The Washington Health Benefit Exchange (WAHBE) assists Washington State residents as they find health insurance with an easy-to-use online customer experience. WAHBE uses the Washington Healthplanfinder to help customers determine eligibility for health insurance and apply to personalized insurance options.
Integrating accessibility
Anthro-Tech and WAHBE worked to integrate accessibility into digital design and go beyond legal accessibility requirements to create a more inclusive user experience on the Healthplanfinder. We assessed the accessibility of the Healthplanfinder and improve the overall user experience.
In-home usability study for accessibility
Highlights of my involvement on the project
Recruitment
I assisted the senior UX designer in recruitment efforts, ensuring representation of a wide range of disabilities in our participant pool.
Accessibility Research
I met with 10 individuals in their homes, working with each person to best accommodate their personalized hardware and software. I led each participant through critical user journeys and scenarios using their own devices and any assistive technology.
Stakeholder Observation
I set up the study in a manner for WAHBE stakeholders to observe as I conducted user research. This allowed stakeholders to witness firsthand the different accessibility blockers and challenges, for instance, how difficult it was for a user with a screen reader to navigate certain sections of the Healthplanfinder. Seeing these challenges firsthand helped create buy-in for efforts to improve accessibility.
Analysis
I worked closely with the senior UX designer to create data-driven solutions and recommendations focused on inclusive design principles. We created an “issue tracker” – a compilation of top findings, exact page location where the issue happened, and the level of severity of the issue. We also put together a presentation for the WAHBE team, highlighting key issues as well as spotlighting video clips and quotes from participants.
Recommendations to improve UX
Priority recommendations focused on reconsidering visual treatment to elements of the site that were not accessible to users. Examples included:
- Sections on website should be collapsible to alleviate scrolling for users who rely on tab-only navigation
- Ensuring all buttons are readable by a screen reader
- Change yes/no buttons to lists with checkboxes for better accessibility
- Ensure color contrast on all pages is on par with accessibility standards
Additional recommendations for overall UX included providing more information upfront about use of personally identifiable information (PII) in order to expect a personalized health plan in return, and to include noticeable (visual and audible) error messages on all pages.
In-home usability study for accessibility
Usability testing from the comfort of home
I worked with each participant to best accommodate their personalized hardware and software.
Facts & Figures
Metrics and services Anthro-Tech provided for the project
Based on the client’s needs, we created tailored service plans on this project including:
Snapshot of issue tracker and recommended solutions
Example of one page of findings tracker I created in collaboration with senior designer delivered to WAHBE. Tracker features top findings and solutions and recommendations focused on inclusive design. Tracker includes specific task, where on the website that task is accomplished, and severity of issue (none to catastrophic).
