My HSS – A Consumer-First Healthcare Platform
As the visual designer on the team, I owned the UI design for the MyHSS app and the MyCareGuide responsive web experience: a consumer-first digital platform designed to simplify the patient journey and improve outcomes for orthopedic patients before, during, and after surgery
Industry
Healthcare
Client
Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) va AKQA
Platforms
Mobile App, Responsive web
Team
Creative Director, PM, UX, Engineering
Focus
Consumer first digital patient experience
Results
2k+
daily active patients
45k+
patients have been helped since the launch of the app in 2021 (as of 2023)
4.6+
★ app star rating
Patient feedback indicates that the platform successfully improved usability:
"Now I'll never miss an appointment"
"Some other portals have complicated screens with too much while HSS was pretty easy. Way to make better use of everyone’s time."
"This is a fantastic app. I’m a long time patient of HSS and this app is very easy for me to use/navigate and access my medical information. Lots of great general education here too. I highly recommend it."
Context
Hospital for Special Surgery is one of the best orthopedic hospitals in the world, the goal of this project was to redesign the digital patient experience to better support patients before and after surgery.
The digital patient experiences did not fully reflect the quality that patients expected from the hospital.
This project focused on redesigning the digital patient experiences to support patients throughout their surgical journey from preparation to recovery while reducing friction and improving patient outcomes.
The goal was to create a digital platform that felt closer to modern consumer products such as uber or Delta while still meeting the reliability required in healthcare.
The Tension
Digital healthcare platforms often create friction for patients at critical moments in their recovery. Many hospital portals suffer from:
- homogeneous user interfaces
- lack of personalization
- no 1:1 interaction with providers
- information overload
- lack of preventative health
- fragment experiences
For orthopedic patients recovering from surgery, these issues are amplified due to physical pain, fatigue and stress. In these moments, even small usability issues can create frustration.
Recognizing this friction, we saw an opportunity to reimagine the digital patient experience: reducing complexity, personalizing care, and building a platform that matched the quality HSS delivers in person.
Research
1 – To better understand the patient experience, we analyzed existing digital healthcare platforms and identified recurring usability challenges.
- Many patient portals expose too much information at once
- Navigation patterns vary widely between healthcare systems
- Patients struggle to identify the next step in their recovery journey
- Communication with medical providers often requires leaving the platform
2 – To understand patients, we analyzed:
- 12 patient interviews
- 4 surgeons
- Analysis of MyChart usage date
- Patient satisfaction surveys
In summary:
Patients engage with this platform during some of their most physically and emotionally demanding moments. Clear, guided access to provider-prescribed information , from pre-operative preparation to post-operative instructions, wasn't a convenience. It was a care requirement.
Primary Users
HSS has 2 types of users, each with different levels of health needs.
Opportunities
Extending the HSS brand into digital experience
Many healthcare platforms feel generic and disconnected from the hospital experience. Incorporating HSS branding helps reinforce trust and continuity between physical and digital care.
Lack of personalization
Patients undergoing surgery require specific guidance before and after their procedure. Providing contextual information tailored to the patient's stage of recovery helps reduce confusion and improve adherence to recovery plans.
Continuous communication
Currently, patients have no 1:1 interaction with providers. Patients benefit from direct communication with providers during recovery. Introducing messaging and daily pain tracking allows providers to monitor recovery and respond quickly when issues arise.
Reducing Information Overload
Restructured home screen that prioritizes the app’s most commonly used features.
Supporting preventive health
MoveBetter, a content platform dedicated to providing preventative health resources to patients.
The project goal:
We set out to redesign and re-imagine the HSS digital patient experience, rejecting the industry norm of Epic MyChart, and building a best-in-class, consumer-first, digital patient experience for a major US hospital.
Streamlined Login
The login flow was simplified by surfacing Patient and Employer Referral entry points upfront, reducing the need for users to navigate through multiple screens when accessing the platform through a referral.
Action-Oriented Feed
The home screen prioritizes the most relevant actions and information for patients.
• upcoming appointments
• recovery milestones
• notifications from providers
• important health updates
Personalized Pre-Surgery Check-in
Tailored guidance including a checklist, preparations steps, reminders and resources , this helps patients feel prepared and confident before their procedure.
Post surgery monitoring support
Recovery tracking enables patients to log pain levels and recovery progress, this data can be shared with the medical team to help identify complications earlier.
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© Kristina Selinski, 2026