HxP explores the experiences that are changing outcomes for people, for professionals, and for brands. In this report, we’ve curated some of our favorite stories about how brands are changing the everyday experience of healthcare. Inside, you’ll find our picks for 13 of the best experiences of 2013, ones that created new human-healthcare connections and helped more people choose better health.

1. 13 BEST HEALTHCARE EXPERIENCES OF 2013

2. Welcome | At the Health Experience Project, we believe the
right experience can change everything.
HxP explores the experiences that are changing outcomes for
people, for professionals, and for brands. In this report, we’ve
curated some of our favorite stories about how brands are
changing the everyday experience of healthcare.
Inside, you’ll find our picks for 13 of the best experiences of
2013, ones that created new human-healthcare connections
and helped more people choose better health.

3. 1
Sproutel’s Jerry the Bear
Jerry is an interactive teaching toy for children with type 1 diabetes.
He shows them how to manage blood glucose levels, recognize their symptoms,
and maintain a healthy diet - all through play. Using games, positive
reinforcement, and real world scenarios, Jerry allows children to learn the skills
necessary to take care of themselves for the rest of their lives.
The bear has insulin injection patch sites, a pulsing heart, and a
chest gadget that displays his blood glucose level. Jerry’s owner is
able to monitor and maintain his health by feeding him food items
and giving Jerry an insulin shot when he needs one.
We chose Jerry because he’s made for where healthcare really
happens: Outside of the hospital, in every day life. Plus, the bond
made between Jerry and his owner is sure to make being brave a
little easier.
“If there’s a way we can make it a
little less clinical, a little less
medical, a little more fun, we’re all
for it” – Father of Matt, a 9-year old
with type 1 diabetes

4. 2
Janssen’s Care4Today App and SMS
Care4Today pairs image-driven reminders with
incentives and social support. Through an app or
text messaging (user’s choice), the program helps
support daily adherence to treatment plans.
Care4Today has a refill reminder and a two-way secure messaging
platform. It also has images of over 20,000 pills – making it a lot
easier to know exactly what to take. To motivate users, it can alert a
designated “caregiver” if a user misses a dose or give 5¢/day to a
chosen charity when the user confirms a dose.
We chose Care4Today because it answers both the practical and
emotional reasons that keep people from sticking with treatment.
And, because it’s delivered by either app or text message, making
it easy for people to fit it into their daily lives.
“I have my wife, sons, and daughter
all connected in Care4Today using
Care4Family for medications and
household chores. I get alerted
immediately if my wife misses her
Levoxyl or my older son misses his
Cymbalta.” – User review

5. 3
ACP Decisions Video Support Tools
This nonprofit developed a series of videos that help people make
more informed decisions about the kind of healthcare they want.
The creators were frustrated by how often real, honest conversations about
choices in care were skipped entirely or dashed off in a brisk, jargony way.
They tested their first video on advanced dementia with real
patients. All were given a verbal description of dementia and some
were shown the video. 90% of participants who saw the video chose
comfort care (which aims to maximize comfort and relieve pain)
compared to 22% who only heard the description.
The work of ACP Decisions is obviously focused on major, lifechanging diagnoses. But, the problem they point out – that the
jargony formality of healthcare impedes real communication – is a
truth across the industry, one we can all help change.
In The Journal of Law, Medicine &
Ethics, Benjamin Moulton and
Jaime S. King said patients are
“routinely asked to make decisions
about treatment choices in the face
of what can only be described as
avoidable ignorance.”

6. 4
A.C. Camargo Cancer Center’s Justice League
They transformed the children’s ward into
a superhero paradise, complete with a
“Hall of Justice” game room and superhero-themed
decorations. The intravenous chemotherapy bags
became magic power against cancer when they
were concealed in colorful superhero cases and
rebranded as “Superformula.”
Original comic books told stories about how super heroes
recovered their strength thanks to the Superformula designed by
expert doctors.
We chose Justice League because the comic context is
making the Cancer Center less scary, but more importantly, it’s
helping doctors explain the disease and the treatment in a way
that’s understandable and relatable to kids.

7. 5
Singtel’s Project Silverline
Singapore is one of the most rapidly-aging countries in Asia. That
aging population has come a whole new list of societal challenges.
At the top of that list is depression. Many of the aging seniors are isolated and
lonely. It’s a trend that’s been called “the silent killer” and the cause of a whole
range of other health problems.
That’s where Project Silverline comes in. It’s a first-of-its-kind
mHealth program designed to combat isolation. It runs off a steady
flow of donated used iPhones that are refurbished with specially
designed senior-friendly apps that help users feel inspired, connect
with their care givers and loved ones, and take care of their health.
In almost every region around the world, you can find some
version of “The mHealth Report,” a quantitative look at how mobile
can improve access, outcomes, and efficiencies. But very few
regions are acting on it. Singapore stands out.
Mobile phone providers have
unique access to both their
customers devices and their data.
That gives them the opportunity to
quickly create native apps and track
which are really changing lives.

8. 6
Eli Lilly and Disney’s Spoonful
The partners created Spoonful.com/Type1,
a website filled with playful stories, games
tips to help young diabetic patients and their families
manage the disease.
The site is built on Spoonful, Disney’s newest website for moms,
part of a much larger parenting experience. The site has content
from other caregivers raising children with type 1 diabetes as well as
original books and characters created by the partnership, a
frequently updated blog and all kinds of tips and ideas for holidays
and seasonal changes.
We chose Spoonful.com/Type1 because it’s a great example of
each contributor playing to its strengths: Lilly knows diabetes and
Disney is a trusted online resource for family content. Neither
could have created this experience on its own.
The site is updated with fresh
content weekly from Disney + Eli
Lilly contributors, including
dietitians, psychologists, nurses
and everyday families.

9. 7
Oscar’s HiOscar.com
When New York opened its health exchanges, one of its most
interesting players was Oscar, a new health insurance company
taking advantage of design and data to humanize and simplify the consumer
experience with coverage. Oscar wants to be the primary place patients get the
medical help they need.
To do that, it’s taking on physician deserts, building new
infrastructure and making a big promise: see a doctor in
20 minutes. Exploring the plans is as easy as telling
Oscar a little about how you are. Members see their
medical history in a Facebook-style timeline. And, they
can use heat maps to compare prices.
Each of the underlined areas lets you
customize the field with your own
information.
How would your life be different if you actually understood your health
insurance? We chose Oscar because that’s their goal: To create a user
experience so intuitive and helpful that people seek out their insurer
before their doctor. That could be huge.

10. 8
Doximity’s Professional Networking Tools
With more members than the American Medical Association,
Doximity is undoubtedly the largest physician social network for
one good reason: It works the way doctors work. Its first popular tool
was designed to upgrade an existed workflow. It was a HIPAA-compliant mobile
fax that allowed docs to send and receive
faxes directly on their iPad or phone.
Today, the app connects its 250,000 member doctors with each
other to network, get expert advice, ask questions, coordinate
patient care, and discuss difficult cases.
We chose Doximity because its uniquely human design
and mobile-first philosophy make it one of the few new
tools that’s truly native to how doctors work and want to
work with each other. That’s a game changer.
Doctors can ask a critical mass of their peers
any number of questions ranging from drug
interactions to specialist advice, and it points
to the demand and hunger for specialized,
vertical social networks that meet an unmet
need.” - CEO Jeff Tangney

11. 9
CVS’s Pharmacist Advisor Program
CVS recently completed the successful pilot year of its Pharmacy
Advisor program, designed to provide expert support right when
people are initiating a new treatment. To start, their pharmacists are given
special training in how to support people with diabetes or heart disease.
They offer a personal consult when customers fill a prescription in
store or initiate a phone call from an advisor if they’ve chosen mail
delivery. The interventions increased initiation rates by 39% overall
(68% for the group counseled at retail stores). Adherence rates
increased by 2.1% (3.9% in store). The return for the employer was
$3 for every $1 spent on additional counseling.
In 2014, the program will expand to
breast cancer, depression, chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease,
asthma and osteoporosis.
We chose CVS because pharmacists are the white coats
everyone has local access to. This drive toward specialty and
helping people make successful transitions onto new therapies
only makes them more essential and influential.

12. 10
WellDoc’s App Rx
The company’s BlueStar became the first disease therapy to be
prescribed through an app. It’s FDA approved for treating adults
with Type 2 Diabetes. When a pharmacy gets the prescription, it adjudicates
the claim, and then WellDoc sets up BlueStar for patient and doctor.
BlueStar supports patients through smart blood glucose testing,
healthy diet and exercise choices, medication adherence, and
quality standards of care such as A1c tests, foot exams, and blood
pressure and lipid levels. It also provides the patients’ physicians
with clinical decision support and enables them to efficiently extend
care beyond traditional office visits.
We chose BlueStar because it helps fill in those huge gaps
between clinical visits and makes it easy to tailor treatment both to
an individual’s needs and a doctor’s preferred approach to
managing diabetes.
“Healthcare is on the cusp of a
revolution where new technologies
can address epidemics, like
diabetes, in ways never before
imagined” - Rick Popp, director of
employee benefits at Ford Motor
Company

13. 11
Standbuy’s Personal Fundraisers
Standbuy is a crowd funding platform specifically designed to
reduce the financial stresses of cancer. It has the “connect, gather
support and stay updated” features of CarePages with the added ability to create
mini fundraisers for yourself or a loved one.
Each fundraiser has a deadline to create urgency, but, unlike
some competitive crowd funding platforms, the donations are
paid out whether the goal is met or not.
We chose Standbuy because the free blogs designed to connect
friends and family members during a health crisis are incredibly
important. Their only shortfall is that they don’t answer the very
real question: what can I do to help? Standbuy does.
Standbuy was created by Sashka
Rothchild. When she was 17, living
in Santa Cruz, CA, her mother was
diagnosed with brain cancer.
Rothchild hopes that Standbuy will
help people find a little more room
in their day for healing instead of
worrying about financial stress.

14. 12
Pfizer’s Online Pharmacy
CVS is powering an online pharmacy on Viagra.com. This is big for
Pfizer because the illegal Viagra market is actually 25% larger than
the legal market. Those aren’t all men who are afraid to talk about ED – in
fact, 75% have talked to their doctor.
Half the men don’t even realize they’re doing something illegal or
counterfeit. They’re looking for convenience and a deal. Pfizer’s
new online pharmacy lets real Viagra go head-to-head with the
counterfeit stuff. Home delivery is only available to those with a
prescription and for most patients whose insurance covers
Viagra, the co-payment is either $29 or $49.
We chose Pfizer’s jump back into retail because it
offers a practical solution to a real problem. Instead of
scare tactics about online pharmacies, they simply built
a better one.
“To meet the needs of consumers who are
increasingly going online to purchase
prescription medications, Pfizer today
launched Viagra® home delivery, a new
prescription-fulfillment website for Viagra®
(sildenafil citrate) tablets, Pfizer’s most
counterfeited medicine”

15. 13
Veteran’s Administration Remote Care
Over the last 12 years, the U.S. Veterans Administration has been
building the Care Coordination/Home Telehealth (CCHT) program,
one of the fastest-growing remote care programs in the world.
Over 500,000 vets have used telehealth, reducing patient bed days by 58% and
hospital readmissions by 38%.
Their program fundamentally changes the consumer healthcare
experience. It pairs apps, video calls with physicians, even
educational iPads for caregivers, with traditional in-office care to
create a system that works with – rather than interrupts – the lives of
veterans.
We chose the Veterans Administration because it lets vets receive
care on their own terms, often remaining in home and avoiding
long commutes to specialists that they can now connect with over
video conference.

16. TALK TO US
To discuss this report live or request a presentation of
experiences and trends, please contact Leigh Householder at
614-543-6496 or leigh.householder@gsw-w.com.
Visit us as GSW-W.com
Or HealthExperienceProject.com

17. SPECIAL THANKS
Thanks to core contributors to
this report: Alex Bragg, George
VanAntwerp, John Mucha,
Patrick Richard, Ritesh Patel,
Sarah Doll, and Tyler Durbin.
And, to artist David Wink for
the custom illustration on the
cover of this report.