CACAO is a next-generation health tech solution designed to streamline communication between healthcare professionals while giving patients ownership of their health data. The platform enables professionals and patients' support networks across the health and wellness domain to collaborate, exchange information, and manage data to deliver high-quality, efficient, and timely care.
Project Context: Healthcare Transformation
Healthcare systems face immense pressure from population growth, aging demographics, regulations, and pandemics. In the Netherlands specifically:
- By 2040, 1 out of every 4 employees will work within the healthcare industry
- Mental health care costs will increase fivefold by 2060, reaching up to 30 billion euros
- Average waiting times are already at 30 weeks, compounding health problems when left unaddressed
A new EU regulation aimed at empowering citizens by granting them control over their personal data will significantly impact healthcare. Currently, patients lack control over their data, with professionals holding the reins. This regulation aims to shift that dynamic, ensuring patients have ownership and autonomy over their health information.
CACAO recognized these challenges and undertook the task of creating a unified digital platform to redefine how technology can enable care professionals to deliver quality care while allowing patients to become active participants in managing their health outcomes.
My Role: Part of the Chemistry Awarded Team
I was fortunate to be part of the Chemistry team that was awarded the CACAO project. As a user researcher and UX designer, I played a key role in bringing this vision to life through a research-based design process.
The Challenge: How might we put the patient at the center of communication about their healthcare to speed up diagnosis, improve treatment and long-term health, and reduce the administrative burden on healthcare professionals.
What We Accomplished
1. Research-Driven Pitch Development
Working alongside the Chemistry team, I contributed to creating a compelling pitch deck that enabled CACAO to secure seed funding. This involved developing a branded template and crafting a narrative that highlighted the platform's unique value proposition and its potential to transform the Dutch healthcare system.
2. Parallel Research and Design Approach
Following an Agile methodology, our team conducted both research and UX/UI design simultaneously while development progressed. I conducted qualitative interviews with healthcare professionals (HCPs) and patients, while we iterated on designs and delivered weekly handovers to the development team.
The insights from these interviews were crucial in:
- Guiding feature prioritization for the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
- Refining the user experience to ensure usability for both patients and HCPs
- Informing design decisions that would support complex interactions among users with varying access levels
3. Design System Development
Leveraging Chemistry's holistic design approach, I helped distill core components into a flexible design system that delivered coherent interactions across the entire platform. This system was designed to evolve from the initial MVP to a full suite of features, supporting complex interactions such as collaboration among users with varying access levels.
The Result
Within a short timeframe, our team had visualized a complex solution founded on solid user-focused research. We enabled both the client and development team to:
- Understand user needs through comprehensive research
- Translate those needs into an effective user interface
- Provide front-end design that enabled development work to proceed at speed
The work brought us closer to a platform that enables HCPs from across the care continuum to provide quality and timely care, while patients can participate and involve trusted family and friends in their care journey.
Key Learnings
This project reinforced several important principles:
- Parallel development of research, design, and development can accelerate project timelines while maintaining quality
- Continuous user feedback throughout the design process ensures solutions remain grounded in real needs
- Flexible design systems are crucial for complex platforms that need to evolve from MVP to full-featured solutions
- Collaboration across disciplines (research, design, development) creates better outcomes than sequential workflows
Project Status
CACAO has successfully secured funding and is continuing development. The platform represents a significant step forward in patient-centered healthcare technology, addressing real systemic challenges while preparing for upcoming regulatory changes.
This project was completed as part of the Chemistry team, which was awarded the CACAO project by Agorasys (now CACAO, a KPN Health company).