The Tech User Experience Needs an Upgrade

Laurie M. Orlov
Principal Analyst, Aging and Health Technology Watch

Today’s technology user experiences are poor — spanning across age groups and categories. They are particularly a barrier for those who need to access multiple, typically not integrated websites to get care, acquire and manage medications, often buying them from multiple pharmacies and dealing with multiple practitioners.  

This is particularly a problem for older adults and those who care for them or provide services. These individuals have increasingly had to move online to request and obtain what they need. Among other services, they will need growing access to pharmacy services and healthcare, including making appointments and finding care. Caregivers and service providers need to help their constituents, for example, with medication management, vital sign tracking, location tracking of those at risk of wandering. 

This report is specifically intended to provide recommendations about how to improve the user experience (regardless of service category) use of personalization (facial and voice). The report recommends that simplification becomes a design model for tech companies and that those companies leverage AI’s capabilities for remembering previous interactions, In addition, protecting user privacy will be required.  

Healthcare organizations will need to examine their portal utilization — considering that older adults become frustrated from moving from one app to another, one site to another.  Organizations interested in providing a better user experience will look for ways to leverage a user profile, consolidate tasks into a single action, hide the fragmentation that frustrates.