TBG & CGI Federal
Online health information is radically influencing the way consumers make decisions about their medical treatment. However, the abundance of information available doesn't necessarily help consumers understand how the quality of services at their hospital, nursing care facility or dialysis unit compares to other local and national facilities. Access to this information would empower consumers to make more informed choices about where they seek care, and improve accountability of healthcare facilities.
Health 2.0., with support from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, launched a nationwide competition, Developer’s Challenge for Consumer Apps to Visualize Health Care Quality Measures, to generate forward-thinking and innovative solutions to this clear need. Developers were tasked with creating highly usable Web and mobile designs that incorporated existing Medicare data reflecting how services in local communities compare to national standards and how services rank within communities themselves.
TBG (The Berndt Group) had already completed, and were in the midst of planning, several complex, high profile healthcare projects with their partner CGI Federal, a leading technology solutions provider for the U.S. government. The competition offered a chance to share some of the innovations developed during this work. However, as the incumbent team, TBG and CGI never thought they would actually win the Health 2.0. Challenge! To our surprise, we beat out other leading development firms and were awarded First Place, including a cash prize of $2,500, which we donated to the American Heart Association (AHA).
For the challenge, TBG and CGI created a Web and mobile-based hospital "compare" application (app) as part of an overall Healthcare Quality system. The hospital comparison app allows consumers to personalize their searches of the government's data and then evaluate hospitals based on the quality measures important to them including U.S. News & World Report rankings, doctor reputation, out-of-pocket costs, staff responsiveness and communication and more.
"The need for innovation in health IT has never been greater—for patients, physicians, hospitals, and insurers—to help all Americans make better, more informed choices. Innovation must occur faster and with more agility—something for which technology companies—like CGI—are famous. We are proud that our work on this challenge with TBG has been recognized by Health 2.0, an organization founded on the idea that patients can use new tools to guide their own care."
Cheryl Campbell
Senior Vice President, CGI
TBG and CGI’s application elegantly solved many of the inherent usability and design challenges of large database driven applications, mainly how to express a large volume of interrelated information in a visually appealing package that consumers want to use. The site had a clean and high contrast visual design with JavaScript Web 2.0.features that allowed users to prioritize content with show/hide buttons, interact with embedded Google maps, see side-by-side comparison views, and easily filter and refresh search results. The quality ratings and information about each facility and how they compare to local and national standards were visually represented in easy to read charts and graphs with intuitive icons. The mobile app also included a feature showing emergency room wait times, contact information, and driving directions.
Ultimately, what was most exciting for TBG and CGI about the Health 2.0. project was that this winning project would become a model and starting point for U.S. government agencies interested in utilizing large data resources to create consumer-friendly, easy-to-use online tools. Needless to say, the project was an enormous win for TBG and CGI and led to continued collaborations with government agencies in the healthcare sector.