AltaMed Clinical Information Management System

Lead UX Researcher & Designer

Three white laptops on a purple background displaying the AltaMed clinical services management software interface.
A simple illustration of a pink flower with five petals and a darker pink center.

AltaMed serves more than 300,000 patients across Southern California, yet one of their most critical operational systems (an internal spreadsheet used to manage clinic information) was unreliable, outdated, and difficult to maintain.

I led the end-to-end UX research and product design of a new Clinical Information Management System that transformed a messy, error-prone workflow into a scalable, intuitive internal tool that supports staff in delivering safer, faster, and more consistent patient care.

The Challenge

AltaMed’s Patient Service Center (PSC) and internal operations teams relied on:

  • A massive, outdated Excel sheet

  • A secondary spreadsheet

  • The public website

…just to answer simple questions like:

  • “What services does this clinic offer?”

  • “What are their hours today?”

  • “Does this location have special scheduling rules?”

The result: longer call times, inconsistent data, costly errors, and time-consuming onboarding.

Foundational Research 🧩 

After speaking to the “owner” of the operations spreadsheet (the person tasked with managing the tool) and the Patient Service Center (PSC), I became well aware of the task at hand and the impact that a solid solution can have. Across all conversations, the same issues surfaced:

1. No source of truth

The system held outdated, incomplete, and conflicting information.

2. High cognitive load & steep learning curve

Errors were common and onboarding new staff required lengthy training.

3. Disorganization slowed down calls

PSC agents often toggled between two Excel sheets + a website, costing minutes per interaction.

4. Error-prone data entry

Manual updates led to inconsistencies and created operational risk.

💡

Problem Statement

The existing Clinical Services Grid is inefficient, inconsistent, and unsustainable.
Its structure increases the risk of human error, creates operational delays, and burdens staff across departments.

There is a clear opportunity to create a centralized, structured, and accessible system that improves accuracy, reduces time spent searching for information, and standardizes data management.

Design Goals

Based on research and operational constraints, I defined three core objectives:

An abstract illustration of a purple cube with an arrow pointing diagonally upward and to the right, symbolizing growth or increase, on a light purple background.

A clean interface

Reduce cognitive load with a clear visual hierarchy and structured content.

A purple stopwatch with motion lines indicating speed, set against a light purple background.

Intuitive Workflows

Simplify administrative tasks so staff can update information confidently and quickly.

A purple shield with a checkmark in the center, symbolizing security or protection.

Standardized Data Entry

Establish uniform fields and rules that reduce errors and ensure consistent reporting.

Mapping the System

Because this was the first tool of its kind at AltaMed, I developed the foundational UX architecture: primary user flows, information architecture, component behaviors, system rules and constraints.

Flowchart diagram of a system interface with nodes labeled for dashboard, location management, service management, admin settings, login, and navigation options.

This work informed engineering requirements and aligned stakeholders around a unified vision before design began.

Designing the Product

Through iterative cycles of ideation, wireframing, prototyping, and feedback sessions with engineering and operational teams, we moved from ambiguous spreadsheets to a structured, usable product.

Hand-drawn wireframe sketches of a user interface for managing locations and services, including a main dashboard, filters, location details, schedule, and edit screens with handwritten notes and annotations.
Screenshot of a healthcare facility management webpage showing locations in Los Angeles, including East Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, Commerce, and Huntington Park. Each location lists services, days, hours, and region.
Hand-drawn sketches of a medical clinic website interface, showing location management and navigation menus, with sections for search, search filters, list of clinic locations, and details including location name, address, services, and edit options.
A hand-drawn sketch of a user interface design for a main dashboard and an edit screen. The main dashboard includes a search bar, filter options, location list, menu options like settings, hours, services, permissions, account, and a logo. There are notes on creating a new location, updating existing locations, and managing address details. The edit screen includes fields for editing location details such as name, address, region, cactus, EZ ID, and activities, along with options for switching hours, setting active status, service checkbox, and hours schedule, as well as buttons for saving, canceling, and deleting the location. Additional notes on UI behavior and layout are written around the sketches.
Screenshot of a medical and dental office management system for East Los Angeles location, showing address, contact info, clinic hours, services, and notes section.
Screenshot of a digital dashboard showing activity history with recent entries, including edits to service hours and holiday hours, on January 2. The left sidebar contains menu options such as Dashboard, Settings, Add New Location, Add New Service, Manage Defaults, Activity, and Profile. The activity section has labels like 'Last Month' and 'Previous Activity'.

During each phase, innovative ideas and insights came to light. Ensuring practicality and integration by holding regular check-ins with developers, project managers, and account teams, leading us to a solid MVP.

Screenshot of the AltaMed Clinical Services Management web interface, showing the 'Manage Services' section with a list of service types such as Family Practitioner, Pharmacy, and Optometry. There are options to add new services, manage service codes, and a pop-up confirmation message indicating changes have been successfully saved.

Unified Dashboard

A single place to manage: Clinic locations, Services. Regions, Hours, Editing & administrative tasks.

Designed for PSC speed: quick access = shorter call times.

AltaMed Clinical Services Management dashboard showing a list of seven locations with their addresses, services, regions, and action icons.

Service Management

Users can add or modify services with structured metadata, including: Service type, Descriptors, Region/clinic applicability.

This dramatically improves onboarding and ensures clarity across teams.

Screenshot of AltaMed clinic management dashboard showing clinic hours from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Saturday, with options to set hours, close the clinic, or mark it as open 24 hours; on the left is a purple navigation menu with options like Locations, Providers, Manage Services, Manage Hours, Version History, Users, and Settings; at the bottom is a greeting 'Hi, Jane!', along with Account Settings and Logout options.

Smart Hours Management

Staff can easily configure: Standard hours, Breaks, Holiday schedules, Unique scheduling rules.

Replaces inconsistent manual updates with predictable patterns.

In action with high fidelity prototyping 🎬

Where is it today? The new Clinical Information Management System is currently in active testing with PSC and operations teams.

Feedback cycles are informing the next phase, which will integrate additional data to support even broader operational needs.

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