Penn Open Pass
2020 • Penn Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation
Problem + opportunity
The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) was put on its heels by the rapid spread of COVID-19 and the subsequent lock-down. In Summer 2020, The Center for Health Care Innovation was pulled into a high-level initiative to pursue re-opening while ensuring public safety. UPenn needed a scalable way to assess the health of its community, facilitate expedited testing and treatment for symptomatic people, and ensure compliance with self- isolation.
I led the design research behind PennOpen Pass, a digital tool which addresses these needs. The core user experience of PennOpen Pass is simple. Users complete a daily symptom questionnaire, resulting in a red or green pass. Green passes afford access to UPenn facilities. Users who receive a red pass are monitored by clinicians, and directed to self-isolate and complete testing.
Action
Learning from the experts
I began by interviewing UPenn’s contact tracers - volunteers who had been notifying identifying and notifying people who were exposed to COVID-19. The information I gathered about their work served as a blueprint for the development of PennOpen Pass, which we understood to be, in part, an input to the contact tracing process.
Testing risky assumptions
Because of our aggressive timeline, conducting design research for PennOpen Pass was a bit like building a plane while flying it. With such limited time, I took an approach aimed at rapidly testing the riskiest assumptions we had about our proposed solution. These assumptions needed to be tested early, enabling us to pivot if needed.
I first led the group in identifying the 8 riskiest assumptions behind PennOpen Pass. I then produced and executed a research plan which tested these assumptions using methods like interviewing, data analysis, usability testing, and observation. The insights gathered from this process enabled our team to identify and address issues as well as make critical decisions about the functionality of PennOpen Pass.
Evaluation + reporting
At scale, PennOpen Pass will be used daily by over 50,000 people. As we scaled PennOpen Pass, we recognized the importance of tracking and reporting key metrics to our operational partners. I took a lead role in identifying the reporting needs of our operational partners and translating those needs into scalable data reporting tools.
Impact
We have a view of campus health. At scale, PennOpen Pass will track the daily symptoms of over 50,000 employees, students, and contractors.
We’re identifying cases. PennOpen Pass has identified hundreds of symptomatic people and directed them to expedited testing. Some of those individuals have tested positive.
We’re reducing risk on campus. PennOpen Pass uses a simple green/red pass system to prevent symptomatic people from entering UPenn facilities.
We’re minimizing burden. The average PennOpen Pass user completes their required daily symptom check in less than 13 seconds.
