Help patients reach the next diagnostic test.

Making a test available is only part of a diagnostic service. Patients also need to register, get a referral, reach the provider and know what happens after the result.

I led a program for patients being investigated for a suspected rare condition. The task was to connect these steps across testing providers and support partners.

Organize the service around clinical decisions

Later tests depended on physicians’ review of earlier findings. An appropriate referral could also allow a patient to enter at a later stage.

Medical professionals decided clinical eligibility. We organized registration, eligibility checks, providers and follow-up around those decisions.

Plan the work between appointments

Depending on the patient’s route, the service included travel or sample transport. Bookings, referrals, samples and results passed between several people and organizations.

We used the patient journey map to define who took the next action, what information they needed and who followed up. That made it a working plan for the service team.

Budget for the stages patients qualify for

The staged design also helped with resource planning. Later tests depended on an eligibility decision; the budget did not assume every participant would receive every test.

We delivered the coordination process. The lesson I would reuse is simple: assign responsibility for the steps between services, as well as for the services themselves.