UX Researcher
LabCheck App
Check insurance coverage and costs for lab tests instantly. Stop surprise medical bills with accurate coverage estimates for any lab test. In a quick three steps: 1) Check Coverage, 2) Find a Lab, 3) Schedule Your Lab Visit
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I created LabCheck in Lovable.dev to see how quickly I could problem-solve a major healthcare issue using AI and vibe-coding while focusing on trust, clarity, HIPAA conformity, real user studies, and a focus on accessibility issues for an older population, ages 48-75, who have a mix of technical abilities with apps. ​​
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Watch the short 2min 23 second walkthrough video of LabCheck below.
LabCheck pitch:
Are you tired of unexpected lab bills? Meet LabCheck — the smartest way to know your lab costs before you go. With LabCheck, you can instantly see insurance coverage and accurate out-of-pocket cost for any lab test, right from your desktop or mobile phone. Search tests by name, common term, or CPT code, and access a comprehensive database of hundreds of lab procedures. Find and schedule a lab test—all while knowing your data is secure with HIPAA-compliant encryption and automatic session timeouts. Stop guessing and start planning with confidence. Know before you go with LabCheck—download the app today and take control of your healthcare costs.
PROBLEM: Health care insurance members don’t know the cost of their labs before their appointment, or the UX flow within their healthcare insurance is cumbersome and uses old data causing customer abrasion. Members often assume the lab will be covered especially for their annual physical, but some codes are not covered for certain insurances for various reasons. Surprise Bills are still a huge problem in healthcare and can lead to long phone calls and dead ends.
TEAM:
Andrea Williams, Lead UX Researcher/UX Designer
Lovable.dev, UI/UX Designer
MY ROLE: Lead UX Researcher, Generative and Evaluative Data Synthesis and Insight Finding, UX/UI Design, UX Design
TIMELINE: October 2025-November 2025 (2 weeks)
OBJECTIVE: Provide an easy to use, no jargon, empathetic healthcare app that quickly takes the user through the steps to find out how much a lab test costs them, and they can schedule the test at an in-network lab in their area.
SOLUTION: I created an easy to use app called LabCheck that takes the user in one scroll-down through the steps along with an FAQ page:
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Check Coverage and cost of lab tests that includes real-time deductible status
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FAQ page, if needed if a lab is not covered
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Find a Lab that performs the test
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Schedule the Lab Test and send user confirmation via email and/or SMS
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THREE RESEARCH GOALS:
This study was necessary to evaluate the usability and effectiveness of a healthcare app designed to help users check insurance coverage for lab tests and find lab locations. The main unknowns included:
1. How easily can users with varying technical abilities navigate the app's core features?
2. Do users understand what the app does and trust the information it provides?
3. What barriers prevent users from successfully completing key tasks like checking coverage and finding labs?
This research will inform decisions about app design improvements, navigation structure, and feature prioritization to better serve users across different age groups, technical skill levels, and healthcare insurance types.
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METHODS USED (2 week process):
* Competative Analysis (reddit, website-Heuristic Evaluation)
* Design app with prompting with Lovable.dev and consulting about fixing bugs with ChatGPT
* Round 1: 6 User Interviews on Zoom, Semi-Structured and Numerical Ranking Survey
* Zoom Audio Transcribing/Hand-written notes into Customer Journey Mapping on Miro
* Collab with Miro AI for Key Insights (human in the loop)
* Round 2: 5 User Testing Interviews on Zoom* Zoom Audio Transcribing/Hand-written notes and collab with Miro AI for Key Insights and summary (human in the loop)
COMPETITIVE
ANALYSIS
Major healthcare insurance companies are now required by the federal “Transparency in Coverage” and “No Surprises Act” rules to give members access to real-time, personalized cost estimates for at least 500 common services — including lab tests, imaging, and office visits. They now have an online “Cost Estimator” or “Find Care” tool where you can:
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Enter the test or CPT code
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Select a facility
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See estimated prices and what portion you pay​
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However, even though insurers have made progress with “cost estimator” tools, the experience is still often confusing or incomplete. A better app for lab test costs would go beyond grabbing outdated data and focus on transparency, accuracy, and usability.
Round 1: GENERATIVE/EVALUATIVE
USER INTERVIEWS
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6 User Interviews
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1-on-1 (Recorded on Zoom)
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30-45 minutes each
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Ages 48-72
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Technical Abilities for App Use range from 2-5 from a range of 1-5
From human-derived insight and opportunities to AI Insights and Summaries with human-in-the-loop adjustments
AFFINITY MAPPING
and JOURNEY MAPPING
on MIRO
from 6 User Testers on Zoom
https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVJpUAih0=/
KEY INSIGHTS
EASE OF USE
• Initial app comprehension scores ranged from 3-5 out of 5 (average of 4.25) after 30 seconds of exposure.
• LabCheck received generally positive ratings (3-5 out of 5 with an average of 4.25), with most users finding navigation intuitive.
USER-CENTRIC
• Participants appreciated the straightforward ability to check lab test costs and coverage before procedures.
• Several users described the experience as "not clunky" and "super easy."
BUGS/UI
• The Back button will erase the previous lab test Coverage Check entries
• The Scroll bar under Find a Lab is not noticeable enough
• Some text is cut off on Android phones
NAVIGATION
Users with higher tech proficiency navigated more independently, while those less familiar with apps needed additional guidance but still found value in the cost transparency features.
Result:
Key fixes and new features added:
1. Fixed critical issue bugs like a letter or two cut off for various smartphone versions (Android and iphone 12)
2. Fixed that when you click Back from FAQ it erases what info you already entered on the Dashboard. That should be user choice.
3. On FAQ page, I moved What Should I Do? To the top of the page and details at the bottom for ease of reading for seniors.
4. Assuming this is a third-party app not embedded into healthcare insurance already, I added a way for users to sign in/opt-in to their own insurance to get detailed results based on where their deductible is at.
5. I added a mockup with a deductible that has been used a bit to lower the original cost, with an accordian dropdown if details are desired.
6. I made sure that the lab location results show labs that perform the lab test (could be difficult obtaining trust in this accuracy without a phone call)
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7. Added a brief but informative Step-by-Step feature at the top of the Dashboard for ease of understanding and use before scrolling through the action steps.
8. I added a Schedule A Lab Test for the lab chosen by the user (maybe difficult to implement as not all labs can connect this way yet)
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9. Also I added a booking function that sends a confirmation to the user's email and/or SMS.
Added "Schedule a Lab Test" feature to Select Labs and Select Date & Time with alt times and By a certain date options as well.
Added a confirmation
of appointment
that is a pop-up,
but it also sends to
email and/or SMS.
RESULTS:
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On September 3rd, 2024, our client, Cambio Labs, wrote our team to request our Figma docs again as they were close to ready to build out some of our creative designs! They first were focusing on the Student View and the Venture Funders end of things before they could tackle the our project, the big behemouth of redesigning the course content management system.
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Round 2: 5 EVALUATIVE
USER INTERVIEWS
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5 User Interviews
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1-on-1 (Recorded on Zoom)
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30-45 minutes each
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Ages 48-75
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Technical Abilities for App Use was an average 3/5 from a range of 1-5
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Summary and Insights on Miro
EASE OF USE
• Instant confirmation popups increase user confidence and provide clear completion feedback.
​• Simple input fields with familiar structure are universally understood.
reduces cognitive load
• The drop-down menu reduces cognitive effort and eliminates confusion around medical test terminology.
Bugs/UI
• I had to spend hours wrangling with Lovable.dev to allow it to have a hover color over one calendar date to show what to do, but to also allow users to then choose another date. When I tried to do this, Lovable erased the entire calendar feature! It took a lot of trial and error for proper UI function on this feature to become ready for the user testing. It was worth it!
NAVIGATION
• Under Lab Search: Large, labeled buttons on the landing page significantly improve ease of navigation across all user types.
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• Under the Scheduling task: List view is strongly preferred over map-based interfaces, particularly among older users.
Results:
The interface demonstrates strong usability across the target demographic. The flow is intuitive, minimal, and approachable, with an average rating of 4.4/5.