Improving patient access and care through cross-team alignment and strategic process design
Role
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Service Designer
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Project Manager
Team
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Chief Clinical Officer
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Admissions Director
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Product Stakeholders
Goals
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Improve patient experience
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Reduce time to eligibility decision
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Increase process efficiency
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Reduce inter-department task duplication
Constraints
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Limited baseline data
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Existing digital tool customization framework
Project Phases
Project Overview
Background
Fora Health is a behavioral health facility that faced long waitlists and missed revenue targets due to outdated workflows, an ineffective client relationship manager (CRM) pipeline, and limited cross-department alignment. Admissions staff lacked tools to track screenings or coordinate with patients and referents, leaving intake slots unused despite high demand. These bottlenecks created duplicated work, unpredictable workloads, and significant delays in connecting people to care.
Project
Fora Health needed to reduce friction in admissions and care transitions while aligning clinical, operations, and intake teams around a shared service model. I led a service design initiative to map current-state workflows, surface systemic breakdowns, and co-design a future-state operating model that clarified ownership, reduced duplication, and created a foundation for scalable growth.
The work balanced immediate operational constraints with long-term transformation, resulting in a simplified service blueprint, clearer CRM alignment, and an implementation-ready change management plan.
Solution Snapshot
Designed a standardized intake service that was supported by aligned workflows, improved CRM configuration, and effective change management to enable adoption and long-term impact.
How & Why
Problem & Framing
The core challenge was systemic misalignment. With a five-year contract in place for the existing medical record system, solutions needed to work within the current CRM rather than replace it. Intake responsibilities were distributed across multiple teams, leaving no single owner with end-to-end visibility.
Residential admissions challenges stem from misaligned ownership and visibility between clinical, operations, and admissions teams, and an ineffective and outdated CRM system.
CRM
Digital database of all inquires
Task management & workflows
Clinical
Eligibility criteria review
Record coordination
Operations
Bed availability tracking
Timing and insurance constraints
Admissions
Digital database of all inquires
Task management & workflows
Structural Breakdown
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No shared definition of waitlist stages or status
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Decision ownership shifts between teams without clear handoff
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Clinical readiness and operational capacity were tracked separately
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The CRM did not reflect real progress through pipeline stages
Impact
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Clients waited for eligibility decision longer than necessary
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Staff relied on manual coordination and side channels
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Residential capacity was harder to forecast and plan against
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Teams lacked confidence in waitlist and admissions data
Defining this boundary early allowed the team to move faster, reduce confusion, and design both experiences with intention.
Strategic Intent
Establish a shared, streamlined intake process across teams so the CRM could reliably reflect real work, enabling accurate data, clearer ownership, and more effective decision-making.
Current State Assessment
In order to identify friction points, gaps, and opportunities, I conducted contextual inquiries and user interviews, and mapped the current state of the admissions pipeline.
People-Driven workarounds are holding the system together
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‘Go-to’ staff have to be flexible to problem-solve system flaws
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Over reliance on key individuals to keep intake and screening moving
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Systems knowledge is siloed in people, not tools
Implication: Leads to inefficiency, burnout, and inconsistent processes across teams
Tool limitations create redundancy, risk, and rework
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Duplicate charts and manual transfers of data
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Reports and referrals getting missed
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Pipeline stages don’t reflect real process
Implication: System fragmentation burns time and risks errors
Operational complexity is outpacing staffing & infrastructure
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Workflows were designed for higher staffing levels
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Fragmented processes cause bottlenecks
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Eligibility differences create inconsistency
Implication: High-touch communication breaks down without shared standards
Task duplication and inefficient eligibility review processes lead to patient frustration and missed enrollment opportunities
Confusing labels for pipeline stages and statuses slows down patient progress through the waitlist
These findings revealed that many issues were rooted in differing mental models, requiring ongoing discovery and alignment alongside analysis.
Ongoing Discovery & Alignment
From Raw Sensor Data to Actionable Insight
Discovery continued throughout the project through stakeholder conversations, working sessions, and iterative validation. As teams aligned on a shared view of the system, insights evolved from isolated pain points into systemic patterns.
Operational complexity is outpacing staffing & infrastructure
-
Workflows were designed for higher staffing levels
-
Fragmented processes cause bottlenecks
-
Eligibility differences create inconsistency
Implication: High-touch communication breaks down without shared standards
Tool limitations create redundancy, risk, and rework
-
Duplicate charts and manual transfers of data
-
Reports and referrals getting missed
-
Pipeline stages don’t reflect real process
Implication: System fragmentation burns time and risks errors
People-Driven workarounds are holding the system together
-
‘Go-to’ staff have to be flexible to problem-solve system flaws
-
Over reliance on key individuals to keep intake and screening moving
-
Systems knowledge is siloed in people, not tools
Implication: Leads to inefficiency, burnout, and inconsistent processes across teams
Key insights from stakeholder interviews
People-Driven workarounds are holding the system together
-
‘Go-to’ staff have to be flexible to problem-solve system flaws
-
Over reliance on key individuals to keep intake and screening moving
-
Systems knowledge is siloed in people, not tools
Implication: Leads to inefficiency, burnout, and inconsistent processes across teams
Tool limitations create redundancy, risk, and rework
-
Duplicate charts and manual transfers of data
-
Reports and referrals getting missed
-
Pipeline stages don’t reflect real process
Implication: System fragmentation burns time and risks errors
Operational complexity is outpacing staffing & infrastructure
-
Workflows were designed for higher staffing levels
-
Fragmented processes cause bottlenecks
-
Eligibility differences create inconsistency
Implication: High-touch communication breaks down without shared standards
Ongoing discovery surfaced not just what needed to change, but also where misalignment could undermine solution adoption, highlighting that change management and communication were essential to success.
Change Management & Communication
Due to universal challenges to successful change, and recent failed initiatives at Fora, I conducted a change management assessment, created a communication plan, and identified our champions of change.
Change management was treated as a design problem in its own right. Clear communication, shared language, and continuous alignment reduced resistance and supported long-term adoption.
By designing for alignment and adoption alongside the service itself, the final solution could be implemented as intended rather than reinterpreted by each team.
Solution
The solution focused on operationalizing the future service model through a redesigned CRM pipeline and supporting workflows. Pipeline stages were collectively defined to reflect real clinical and operational decision points, while remaining within the constraints of the medical record system.
Rather than forcing teams into rigid processes, the solution aligned CRM structure, workflows, and ownership to support consistent decision-making across intake, admissions, and care delivery.
Future State Service Blueprint
Admissions Pipeline Critical Paths
Future Considerations
Platform & Brand Evolution
As Leaflet evolves, this strategic approach provides a foundation for both brand and capability expansion.
The abstraction and progressive disclosure patterns established in the plant profile can support a broader rebrand while maintaining clarity and trust across new audiences.
Diagnostic Depth & Sensor Expansion
Expanding diagnostic capabilities will focus on actionability, not complexity.
Planned sensor development will surface additional types of data like soil nutrients, growth stages, and environmental stress. The design approach remains centered on translating complexity into clear care actions, with deeper analysis available for users optimizing long-term plant health.
Audience-Specific Use Cases
We are currently exploring how to support diverse growth goals without fragmenting the experience.
Whether caring for houseplants, growing food, or managing cannabis cultivation, future features can adapt guidance and insights to specific outcomes while preserving a shared mental model across the platform.
While this initiative focused on residential services, the underlying service model is designed to scale. Future phases could adapt these workflows to outpatient and other program types, creating greater consistency across the care continuum while still respecting program-specific needs. This positions the organization for more cohesive client experiences and operational efficiency as services expand.
Expanding Beyond Residential
Expanding diagnostic capabilities will focus on actionability, not complexity. Planned sensor development will surface additional types of data like soil nutrients, growth stages, and environmental stress. The design approach remains centered on translating complexity into clear care actions, with deeper analysis available for users optimizing long-term plant health.
Deepening Data Visability Across Admissions
As the new service model is implemented, success will be monitored through a combination of qualitative feedback and operational metrics. This includes tracking reductions in handoff friction, improved clarity of ownership across teams, and time-to-resolution for intake and admissions workflows. Ongoing feedback loops with frontline staff will ensure the model continues to reflect real-world conditions.
Measuring Implementation Success
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