Optimizing measurement-based care tools for patients and clinicians.
Introduction
Measurement-based care is a healthcare approach that allows clinicians to measure patient progress and increase patient involvement in their care process, yet less than 20% of U.S. practitioners are using it. Implementing this feature on the SimplePractice EHR platform would increase the opportunity for clinicians to improve treatment outcomes.
My Role
I was responsible for designing the end-to-end PHQ-9 survey experience, translating clinical requirements into a user-centered flow that worked seamlessly across web and mobile.
I collaborated closely with product, engineering, and clinical teams to ensure the design aligned with medical standards, integrated smoothly into the broader platform, and shipped efficiently within technical constraints.
Results
In the first 3 months post-launch, we observed the following:
4,478 users adopted the feature, almost 3x more than our goal
Achieved an NPS of 87
Positive feedback from clinicians
The Challenge
Mental health practitioners needed a more streamlined, effective way to collect and interpret PHQ-9 assessments within the EHR — without disrupting their existing workflows or overwhelming patients.
I redesigned the end-to-end PHQ-9 survey experience, making it easier for patients to complete, and for providers to review and act on results — all within a secure, HIPAA-compliant platform.
💡 HMW empower patients to engage with their care through clinically validated tools without adding friction to their therapeutic alliance with their provider?
PHQ-9 completion rate
1,000 user feature adoption within first 3 months post-launch
>75 Net Promoter Score (NPS) for providers
Reduction in patient drop-off mid-survey
KPIs
Constraints
Minimal engineering bandwidth for new functionality
Need to design within existing code base
HIPAA compliance and accessibility standards
Solution Preview
Gentle disclaimer pop-up modal.
The disclaimer modal is introduced after form submission, communicating important information with the patient while directing them toward a clear next action to take.
I designed the survey to align with the official Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), ensuring that all copy and formatting was kept consistent to avoid introducing bias.
Intuitive survey format.
The review screen allows patients to finalize their answers before submitting the questionnaire to their clinician.
Review answers before submission.
The Process
Over the course of 6 weeks, I led a focused design sprint grounded in research, clinical consultation, and cross-functional collaboration. I reviewed PHQ-9 medical guidelines, interviewed a clinical psychologist to understand real-world care needs, and worked closely with product and engineering to ensure the experience was scalable, accessible, and aligned across platforms.
🔬 Background Research
Measurement-based care requires a seamless connection between the clinician and patient experience.
To inform the design, I studied the clinical standards, scoring rules, and implementation guidelines for the PHQ-9 — a widely used, evidence-based depression assessment. This helped ensure the experience was not only user-friendly but also clinically accurate and compliant.
Thus, I set out with the following goals in mind:
Preserve clinical integrity: Ensure scoring, language, and question order follow medical standards to maintain validity for practitioners.
Minimize patient friction: Present questions in a clear, approachable way to reduce anxiety, increase completion rates, and support accessibility.
Surface meaningful insights to providers: Make results easy to interpret at a glance, enabling providers to track changes over time and adjust care accordingly.
Goals
Our background research helped contexualize the role and needs of the PHQ-9 survey.
In reviewing the PHQ-9’s clinical background and usage guidelines, several important insights and requirements emerged that directly shaped the design process:
Research Insights
01
Standardization is critical
The PHQ-9 must be presented exactly as written — including question order, wording, and 4-point Likert scale — to maintain its clinical validity. Any deviation risks compromising the assessment’s integrity and usefulness for providers.
02
Citation is required for compliance
To meet ethical and clinical standards, the original source of the PHQ-9 must be cited within the tool. This includes proper attribution to the authors and reference to its use as a validated screening measure.
03
It’s more than just data collection
The PHQ-9 is not just any survey, but an intimate questionnaire that can make patients feel vulnerable and apprehensive when completing it. The UI must communicate empathy and privacy, especially on mobile where most responses happen.
Potential outcomes to avoid.
Putting it together
I mocked up the survey format and evaluated potential introduction points for a disclaimer, a critical component for ensuring that important information is delivered at the right time. This led to the conclusion that the disclaimer should pop up after submission in order to deliver key information without skewing answers.
Research Insights
🌈 Design
Visualizing the user experience
After establishing the overall structure of the questionnaire, we decided a modal would be the best way to present the disclaimer while aligning with the existing design component system. In the first iteration, I tested the modal in action:
Bringing it to life
Making it better
Refining the disclaimer modal
We evaluated the effectiveness of the modal based on the following questions:
Does the modal clearly present the information?
Is the experience seamless?
Through our team discussion and user interviews, I explored these subsequent modal formats:
Translating the experience to mobile
Translating care seamlessly across screens
As most patients accessed the PHQ-9 survey through the client portal mobile app, it was critical to design an experience that felt just as seamless and clinically sound on smaller screens. I collaborated closely with the client portal product team to ensure that our mobile implementation preserved the integrity of the assessment while optimizing for comfort and usability.
Throughout, I aligned with mobile dev constraints and design system guidelines to ensure feasibility and consistency across platforms.
The Results
The redesigned PHQ-9 experience successfully balanced clinical rigor with empathetic UX, leading to measurable improvements across patient engagement and provider satisfaction.
“I just have to give another shout-out to SimplePractice — their latest EHR update now includes scoring and computer-interpretation results of common emotional measures (e.g., GAD-7, PHQ-9, etc.). The interface is also very intuitive and visually appealing. I love it. Makes my job much easier.”
Derek Ream, PsyD
Designing with context, ecosystem, and execution in mind
Designing for patient care demands a deep understanding of medical context. Partnering with a clinical psychologist helped me ground every decision in the realities of measurement-based care—ensuring the tool was both clinically sound and user-centered.
Because this feature spanned the clinician dashboard, client platform, and mobile app, I approached it as a connected ecosystem, not just a standalone flow. By leveraging existing design systems and aligning with engineering constraints, we streamlined dev handoff and shipped quickly—filling gaps without overextending the team.