Building UX Research at Montefiore Health System
Establishing foundational UX research practices at a $6B academic medical center—from designing research operations to mapping multi-stakeholder care journeys that informed digital product strategy.
The Challenge
How do you establish patient-centered research at a $6B healthcare system that has never had a UX research practice—while navigating HIPAA constraints, no participant access, and siloed workstreams?
Montefiore Health System serves 3.4 million patients across the Bronx and Hudson Valley. I joined as the first dedicated UX researcher, reporting to the Director of Digital Health Product. Digital products were being built based on internal assumptions with no formal research practice, no participant access, and HIPAA/compliance constraints blocking patient engagement.
Approach
Philosophy: “Act Fast, Think Long”
I designed a phased research strategy that delivered quick wins to build credibility while constructing long-term infrastructure for sustainable impact.
| Phase | Timeline | Methods | Key Outputs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Immediate | Weeks 1–4 | Expert reviews, competitive analysis | Provider Directory assessment, Top 10 Research Questions |
| Short-term | Weeks 5–12 | Systems analysis, internal panel building | 13 specialty flow analysis, UXR Recruitment Playbook |
| Medium-term | Weeks 13–24 | Proto-personas, journey maps, stakeholder interviews | 5 service blueprints, persona validation, October workshop |
| Long-term | Weeks 25–33 | Data-backed synthesis, AI repository | Quantitative analysis, automated repository, Q1 2026 program |
Research Operations Infrastructure
Building sustainable research required more than methods—it required infrastructure. I developed a complete research operations system including HIPAA-compliant recruitment pathways, tool recommendations at three price points, and an AI-powered document repository.
Research in Action
The research program generated a rich “source of truth” connecting insights across multiple care programs, stakeholder interviews, and quantitative datasets. Weekly dashboards maintained transparency while journey maps and service blueprints created shared understanding across product, clinical, and operational teams.
Key Findings
Quantitative analysis of breast cancer screening outreach revealed two-way contact as the primary conversion driver at 69.1% baseline—with a clear path to 79% through targeted interventions.
What the Data Revealed
- Two-way contact rate: 69.1% baseline → potential 79% with interventions (+10pp opportunity)
- Inbound callback conversion: 62.6% vs 50.4% baseline (+12.2pp uplift when patients call back)
- Unreachable via phone: 30.6% of patients—SMS/portal channels yield 7.6pp screening rate increase
- Lead time impact: Reducing median lead from 26 days to 14 days correlates with lower no-shows
Impact
Research Infrastructure Delivered
- 8-stage research service blueprint operational
- UXR Recruitment Playbook complete (HIPAA-compliant)
- Tool evaluation with recommendations at 3 price points
- AI-powered research repository using Microsoft Power Automate and Copilot
- Q1 2026 Diabetes Research Program designed with 4-layer model
Reflection
What Worked Well
- Phased approach: Delivering expert reviews and competitive analysis immediately built credibility while longer-term infrastructure was being designed.
- Human-Business-Tech framework: Connecting patient insights to KPIs made research legible to leadership.
- Weekly dashboard: Transparent progress tracking across workstreams maintained stakeholder alignment.
What I’d Do Differently
- Start quantitative analysis earlier: The November BCS analysis revealed actionable patterns that could have informed earlier decisions.
- Engage navigators sooner: Navigator overload emerged as a cross-cutting theme—interviewing them in Month 2 rather than Month 5 would have surfaced this faster.
- Build the AI repository in parallel: The automated summarization infrastructure took time; starting it alongside journey mapping would have created compounding value.