LabCorp
Labcorp is a leading global life sciences company that provides vital information to help doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, researchers and patients make clear and confident decisions. They operate one of the largest clinical laboratory networks in the world, processing over 3 million patient specimens per week across over 160 million patient encounters per year.
The Challenge
LabCorp’s charge was to double-down on their excellent customer service, but to ensure it was delivered well throughout the entire customer journey. Each stage and touchpoint—from scheduling and arrival, to testing, results, and billing—needed to be considered not as discrete activities but as part of a larger patient experience. LabCorp also wanted to explore, prototype, and test innovative ways to expand the value that LabCorp provides patients before, during, and after their diagnostic experience.
The Approach
We started with LabCorp stakeholder interviews and then undertook field research—observations and a series of one-on-one patient interviews. We documented 13 stages of the patient journey, with 56 significant pain points and 20 unmet patient needs.
In a collaborative workshop, we reviewed our findings and translated them into a prioritized backlog, combining LabCorp’s known backlog with opportunities from our research.
This formed the foundation for targeted design. Our Sprint Plan included four cycles focused on Appointments, Billing & Insurance, New Account Creation, & Test Results (later expanded to include the Homepage, Dashboard, & Help Center). Each cycle included user testing and feedback, with iterative improvements to meet key experience metrics. From both a usability and desirability standpoint, the new designs were preferred over the existing and competitor experience by almost 90% of testers.
Frontstage Impact
Improved appointment scheduling, billing clarity, test results, and account creation across the patient journey
90% user preference over existing and competitor experiences in testing
Backstage Impact
Prioritized opportunity backlog integrating research findings with existing roadmap
Digital infrastructure that enabled rapid pandemic-era patient onboarding
Role
Strategist
Service Design Lead
Key Deliverables
Insights & Opportunities
Patient Journey
Prioritized Backlog
Mobile-First Digital Experience
Sanitized version of the LabCorp patient journey
Prioritized backlog, including existing items and new opportunities from research.
Outcomes
The project concluded just prior to the Pandemic and its timing turned out to matter enormously.
Our key business metrics were concrete: increase the number of appointments booked online to reduce walk-ins, reduce contact center volume driven by patient confusion, and grow the number of active digital accounts. The new design moved all three in the right direction. While specific metrics remain confidential, the directional improvements across all three were meaningful enough that LabCorp continued investing in the patient experience platform.
But the more important outcome was organizational. By investing in patient experience before it was urgent, LabCorp had built the digital infrastructure and operational capabilities to adapt when the world changed overnight. When COVID-19 hit, they were able to rapidly onboard millions of patients—including for COVID testing—without starting from scratch. Had they not doubled down on the patient experience when they did, that capability simply wouldn't have existed.
It's a useful reminder that the value of service design isn't always visible at launch. Sometimes it shows up when the unexpected happens and your organization is ready for it.