Schedule

In 2022, Advance Equity is the first pillar of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Strategic Plan. This strategy aims to advance health equity by addressing the health disparities that underlie our health system through stakeholder engagement and by building this pillar into the core functions of CMS. It also aligns with the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment in this area and Social Determinant of Health (SDH) is one of the key aspects. 
 But the fact is SDH is not something new. A strong body of evidence demonstrates that addressing SDH within healthcare systems advances outcomes such as cancer treatment adherence. To achieve that, we need to collect SDH data but unfortunately, the traditional way to tackle SDH does not work well. This session is to share how a Human-Centered Design approach can help Health Equity and SDH based on an NIH SBIR Awarded project. 

 Attendees will learn:

• What SDH is and how it impacts healthcare,
• The drawback of using the traditional approach to tackle SDH
• How Human-Centered Design can change the paradigm, 
• What is the result of the pilot testing using the new approach
• How it affects the CMS community in handling Health Equity 

Belief in the value of qualitative user research and personas is a core principle of human-centered design (HCD) --but how often are research insights and personas used across all the disciplines that are supposed to be collaborating to create software? How often are they created and then shelved, never to be seen again by anyone outside the HCD team? Research participants trust us to make the most of their contributions to the design and development of our systems. And our user community trusts us to do the best we can to design a usable system for them. 

In the Hospital Quality Reporting Program (HQR), the HCD team has developed a research repository using Jira and Confluence accessible to many of our stakeholders, partners, and team members of the Application Development Organization (ADO). This case study will show how we created the repository, integrated personas and intend for the repository to be an integral part of the growth of our HQR system and program.    

Attendees will learn: 

• How to create a research repository with tools that are accessible to many CCSQ programs, 
• About a governance model for the repository, and 
• How to integrate research insights into system documentation and SAFe practices. 

Even though AI has advanced a lot in the past six years, the legacy AI approach has a problem: data must be consolidated in one location for the machine learning model to be trained. That means data are exposed, and the data owners lose their data privacy. Even worse, unlike tangible objects, the data exposed can be replicated to potentially hundreds and thousands of times with just a click of a mouse. That makes recovery almost impossible, and hence people now treat data privacy more seriously.  

The result is insufficient data, which creates another dilemma of hindering the growth and maturity of many AI models as they rely on data. Where should data owners draw the line to determine what they can and cannot trust? In insecurity discipline, there is a methodology called Zero-Trust. Can this be used in AI so that we trust nobody to hold our data but can still help advance AI? 

There is a new branch of AI called Federated Learning. The concept includes data consolidation to train the model, and the model is pushed out to where the data is located for training. The individual result will then be sent back for aggregation to form the final useful model. Sounds very promising, right? But can this be THE solution to solve the trust issue?  

Attendees will: 

• Understand the risk and opportunities of this technology and see In What We Trust, 
• Learn the latest trends in AI – Federated Learning, and how this technology can provide an AI model integrity, and 
• Understand the latest trends and end-user data trust. 

According to Pew Research, public trust in the government nears record lows and the federal government has recognized the need to improve the way it serves its citizens. One response has been through the publication of OMB Circular A-11 Section 280, which guides how all agencies should prioritize managing the customer experience and improving service delivery. 

Dark patterns are designs (digital or non-digital) that erode trust by intentionally or unintentionally tricking people into doing something they don't intend, want, or need. These mistakes usually cost people money and always cost them time. The purpose of this panel is not to discuss ways that the government has failed the public. Instead, the goal is to focus on examples of bad design most often seen in the commercial space and how we might respond to these examples to rebuild the public's trust in government solutions. 

Attendees will: 

• Hear diverse perspectives and ideas from a panel of design professionals, 
• Have an opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others, and 
• Understand how to leverage principles taken from lousy design to inform ideas for rebuilding trust by improving the products and services we deliver to the public.    

Communication is hard. Communicating health information to diverse audiences with low health literacy is particularly hard—and has high stakes. 
Plain language makes information easy to find, use, and understand for everyone—and makes healthcare systems more effective because patients understand what they need to do to manage their health. So, the question we must ask ourselves is, "Do people get what we're saying?" 

Attendees will learn: 

• The importance of knowing their audience well enough to communicate effectively, 
• How to create content that is easy to scan, read, and understand, and
• How to use words that are meaningful to their audience. 

The KindnessRX campaign studied the power of human kindness to combat caregiver burnout and increase COVID vaccination uptake.  Highlighting those who made an impact within their organization, the campaign took aim at a softer approach towards vaccination promotion, avoiding words such as “mandatory” and “required.” Rather, the campaign focused on gratitude and kindness and taking care of one another. Comments and feedback proved that human kindness generated a positive culture change, expressing gratitude and kindness that helped healthcare workers build personal connections while promoting safety and workforce engagement.

Attendees will learn how:

• The power of human kindness outweighs monetary benefit, and
• The KindnessRX campaign increased COVID vaccination rates.

What happens when you have a Human-Centered Design (HCD) content strategist on your agile team? Great content things, of course! This presentation tells the tale of how a pair of HCD content strategists joined an existing CMCS agile team to round out the HCD capabilities and work on a new feature.  

HCD content strategy is all about ensuring that we speak with users in ways that make sense, provide the right message at the right time, and plan how to keep the conversation going after the release.  

How did we build trust within the experience? HCD content strategy tools include content audits, facilitated content analysis exercises, content remediation plans, and more! And content design tools, including the messaging framework, UX writing, content testing, and more!  

Join us to learn how these tools served as a foundation for building trust with customers through thoughtful, informed communication. 

Attendees will: 

• Understand how agile teams can benefit from the addition of an HCD content strategist and the use of content strategy and design tools, and 
• Learn how these tools can serve as a foundation for trust with customers through thoughtful, informed communication. 

What happens when you have a Human-Centered Design (HCD) content strategist on your agile team? Great content things, of course! This presentation tells the tale of how a pair of HCD content strategists joined an existing CMCS agile team to round out the HCD capabilities and work on a new feature.  

HCD content strategy is all about ensuring that we speak with users in ways that make sense, provide the right message at the right time, and plan how to keep the conversation going after the release.  

How did we build trust within the experience? HCD content strategy tools include content audits, facilitated content analysis exercises, content remediation plans, and more! And content design tools, including the messaging framework, UX writing, content testing, and more!  

Join us to learn how these tools served as a foundation for building trust with customers through thoughtful, informed communication. 

Attendees will: 

• Understand how agile teams can benefit from the addition of an HCD content strategist and the use of content strategy and design tools, and 
• Learn how these tools can serve as a foundation for trust with customers through thoughtful, informed communication.