Engage-Rx

Background and Challenge

Hypertension disproportionately affects African-American men, increasing their risk of heart attack and stroke. Treatment gaps are worsened by systemic bias and medical mistrust. Dr. Fontil set out to change this. Working with developers, he created an algorithm that draws on clinic visits, lifestyle reports, and home blood pressure readings to deliver treatment recommendations, giving care providers a clearer path to effectively managing hypertension.

From the beginning, the vision was clear. “Doctors know how to treat hypertension,” Fontil said. “We just often forget.” Engage-Rx was designed to nudge providers when patients with high blood pressure come in for unrelated issues, ensuring treatment isn’t overlooked. SOM Tech partnered with him to bring this vision to life, with seamless integration into the EHR as the guiding principle.

Defining Needs and Motivations

We began collaboration by defining the needs and motivations of both patients and care providers, exploring potential workflow scenarios. Based on this, we created wireframes and conducted workshops with clinical providers to refine the interface and align on the most critical moments in the provider experience.

Clickable prototypes gave form to the vision. Complex graphs, layered visualizations, and action prompts were tested through iterative usability sessions. From this, four principles emerged: simplify, clarify next steps, layer information within charts, and show only the right amount of data for quick decisions. These refinements produced a usable, effective MVP, designed as a web-based SMART on FHIR app.

Designing for Adoption

The MVP’s integration into Epic surfaced a real challenge: doctors feared extra tasks and disruption. To solve this, we designed a dedicated tab that appears only when patients have high blood pressure. Recommendations are “suggestive, not disruptive,” arriving at just the right time in the workflow and helping clinicians consider treatment options quickly without added burden.

Hypertension isn’t just managed by primary care doctors. Nurses, physician assistants, and specialists all encounter it. “They may not remember how to treat hypertension. It’s not that hard, but they just haven’t done it in a while,” Fontil explained. The design had to work for all of them.

Understanding the Workflow

Clarifying What to Present and How

Making Sure Prototypes Meet User Needs