Medical procedures in the United States have become increasingly unaffordable for many despite the cost being significantly more approachable in other countries.

Additionally - the process of finding reputable providers, finding appropriate travel accommodations, booking travel itself, booking excursions, and communicating with your doctors and providers are almost entirely separate and disjointed.

The Worst Part? Payments… What is someone that needs medical care supposed to do if there is a problem with the wire-transfer? Or the provider ends up being not reputable?

There simply wasn’t any recourse for the patient… until now… Powered by the security and infrastructure of Mastercard patients can now rest easy knowing their money is safe and secure

A medical tourism company was looking to create a trusted “one-stop-shop” platform to connect patients (wishing to travel for medical procedures) with accredited facilities, and enable flexible secure payments (between the patients and facilities), while creating value for both parties that doesn’t exist today

As the Innovation/Product Strategist I led the entire project and cross-functional project team from introduction-to-delivery and was ultimately responsible for the overall success of the engagement

This included the following:

• Becoming familiar with and understanding the problem space

• Defining the project scope and setting expectations with the client

• Securing the logistics of the engagement

• Planning all activities of the design thinking workshop such that my team had enough information and visual artifacts to create a functional app and advertisement for the prototype

• Leading the cross-functional delivery team of: Product Strategists, Designers, Developers, Video Producers, Subject Matter Experts, Product Owners, Account Executives, and Client Business Liaisons

• Driving client alignment to a singular Customer Experience (CX) strategy powered by Mastercard Digital Labs

• Ensuring the entire project aligned with the Account Team’s overall roadmap for this client

• Most importantly, making it a fun experience for everyone involved

Project Timeline:

• Engaged with the client team in October 2023

• Design Thinking workshop started January 15th, 2024

• Design Thinking workshop outputs delivered January 19th, 2024

• Technology Alignment workshop ran from August 15-16, 2024

• Development Sprints from August 26th, 2024 - February 28th, 2025

Overall Approach = 40 Weeks

• Frame the Problem (4 weeks)

  • Kickoff meeting & alignment

  • Client & Stakeholder interviews

  • Desk Research

  • High-Level journey overview with the client

  • Design Thinking workshop planning

  • Workshop walkthrough with the client

• Align & Design (1 week)

  • Design Thinking workshop

  • Prototype development (during workshop)

  • Advertisement video creation (during workshop)

  • Delivery of prototype and advertisement

  • Initial output presentation

• Share (1 week)

  • Executive dry-runs

  • Executive readout

  • Press release

• Prototype Review (6 weeks)

  • Concept validation testing

  • Business value review

  • Usability testing

• Technology Alignment (4 weeks)

  • Technology Alignment workshop

  • Roadmapping with 3rd parties

  • Sprint and implementation planning

• Development (24 weeks)

  • Sprint execution

  • Final deliverable reviews

Executive Pitch Deck —

An executive-level, compelling pitch presentation that showcases the story of why this new solution is right for the business and right for the customer

Fully functional prototype built for iOS —

A high-fidelity, interactive prototype that brings to life the customer experience by simulating the new product’s real-world functionality and serves as a key milestone to product commercialization

Advertisement video of the concept solution —

An advertisement product video that brings the new product concept to life and sells the key customer value proposition - rich media content is designed to increase interest and be shareable within the client’s organization

Week in review video —

A video reel of everything the group accomplished in the long week of Design Thinking, celebrating all the wins achieved along the way!

Core Team (x8)

• Product Strategists (x2)

• UX Designer (x3)

• Lead System Developer (x2)

• Video Producer

Extended Team (x3)

• Subject Matter Expert (x2)

• Business Product Owner

Account Team (x3)

• Account Executive (x2)

• Client Business Liaison

Client Executives (x3)

• Chief Executive Officer

• Co-Chief Executive Officer

• Chief Operating Officer

Client Business (x3)

• Strategic Development Officer

• Director of Accreditation (x2)

Client Doctors (x3)

• 3rd party Business CEO

• Consulting Doctor of Internal Medicine (x2)

Client Technology (x1)

• Development lead

Additional 3rd Party Client Participants (x3)

• Payment Facilitators (x2)

  • Senior Product Manager

  • Integration Program Manager

• Insurance (x1)

  • Underwriting Innovation Lead

About 915 Post-It notes, 30 exercises, 7 friendly competitions, and 68 worksheets later….

• $100M+ product potential in 5 years given the $47B+ industry space

• New partnerships gained with both the client and Mastercard

• New accreditation process created from this extended engagement

• Produced a first-of-its-kind platform for end-to-end booking, follow up, communication, patient research, and payments

• This project set the stage for first-follower competition

• Solved a true gap in market for safe and effective cross-border medical payments (backed by Mastercard)

• Dream big, but plan small (to get things out into the market)

• Cross-functional perspectives will not only enhance the result, but will get us there faster

• The importance of connecting multiple parties early and often

• Progress over perfection

• Global perspectives highlight gaps in product/design needs

• SOLVING A REAL WORLD PROBLEM IS AT LEAST AS REWARDING AS EARNING MONEY