CareCompass

Overview

CareCompass is currently a design, not a product — the interface is drawn, the flows are worked out, and nothing has been built yet. The problem it addresses is one I watch families run into constantly. Choosing a skilled nursing facility usually happens under time pressure, often straight after a hospitalisation, and almost always without any prior experience of the system. Families face two separate problems at once: working out which facilities are appropriate and available, and then completing an admission packet that assumes knowledge they do not have. The design puts both in one place.

The problem

• Facility selection happens under time pressure, frequently during a discharge window measured in days.
• Families have no basis for comparison — the information that distinguishes one facility from another is scattered, inconsistent, or written for regulators rather than relatives.
• Admission packets assume familiarity with terminology, insurance mechanics and documentation that most families encounter for the first time.
• The paperwork burden lands on the person least equipped to carry it, at the worst possible moment.

Proposed approach

• A searchable facility database built around what a family actually needs to compare, not what is easiest to publish.
• A guided intake that takes the admission packet one step at a time and explains what each part is for.
• Plain language throughout — the interface assumes no prior exposure to skilled nursing.
• A compliance view, so the facility side of the process is served by the same tool rather than a parallel one.

Process

1. 01

   Start from the family's week

   Map what actually happens between a discharge decision and an admission, and where the hours go.

2. 02

   Separate the two problems

   Facility search and paperwork completion are distinct tasks with distinct failure modes; treat them as such rather than merging them into one funnel.

3. 03

   Write for the reader who has never done this

   Every label and explanation is aimed at a relative under stress, not at an administrator who already knows the vocabulary.

What this has clarified

• The paperwork is not incidental to the admission — for the family it often is the admission.
• Two audiences share one process: what reduces work for the facility and what reduces confusion for the family are not automatically the same thing.
• Designing the search first and the intake second was the wrong order. The paperwork is where families actually lose their week, so it should lead.

Next steps

• Put the designed flows in front of families who have recently been through an admission, before any of it is built.
• Work out where the facility data would come from, and what could be kept current honestly.
• Scope a build once the intake flow survives contact with real families.