What’s happening next?
The family needs to understand where their loved one is going and what the transition will involve.
An independent product concept for exacare ai
exacare ai
Family Handoff
Helping families understand what happens next after a referral is accepted.
Provider Patient
What if it became
Provider Patient + Family?
- My work
- Product strategy, product design and prototyping
- Context
- Independent product exploration
- Built with
- Next.js, TypeScript, Tailwind and local mock data
The project at a glance
- Problem
- When someone you love needs care, you can be anxious enough that your mind goes blank. How could we help families find their next step and take a little off their plate?
- Solution
- One place for the onboarding steps, paperwork and to-do list the patient or family needs to handle, with provider-reviewed information close by. Less searching through emails and chasing updates.
- What exists
- A working concept with fictional data and simulated sending and signing. It is not a live care service or an official exacare ai product.
Problem: questions, worry, and a long to-do list
A few years ago, my mom had cancer. I was worried about her, but I also remember feeling like I didn’t really know what I was supposed to do. There was a lot of waiting, uncertainty, and activity behind the scenes that my family couldn’t see.
My mom’s experience wasn’t the same care journey I’m exploring here, but I remember how it felt to be on the family side. I also have scoliosis, and keeping track of different referrals has been frustrating from the patient side too. When I came across exacare ai’s work in post-acute admissions and coordination, those experiences made me curious about what happens for the family.
Acceptance is an important milestone for the provider. For the family, there may still be signatures, emergency contacts, transfer arrangements and questions about what to bring. I started treating it as a handoff point.
What do I need to do?
A list of documents is only useful if someone can tell which task needs their attention and what is already done.
This started with my family’s experience and my research into the product. These were questions to explore, not findings from interviews with exacare ai’s users.
Solution: a handoff the provider controls
How could a family see what happens next and what they need to do, without searching through emails or calling back and forth? I wanted that information in one place, connected to the provider’s existing workflow.
The provider prepares the handoff inside the referral, chooses what to share, checks the next steps, and sends it. The family gets one place to follow the transition, complete their tasks, and see what’s already done.
- Referral accepted
- Provider reviews & shares
- Family receives next steps
- Family completes tasks
Design decisions: two different contexts
At first, it would have been easy to expose parts of the provider interface to the family. But a provider who uses the product every day and a family going through this for the first time need different things.
Providers need context and control
I kept the handoff inside the referral workflow, where the provider already has the relevant information. Sharing choices stay visible before anything is sent.
Families need a clear next step
I gave the family view more space, plain language and a smaller set of decisions. They shouldn’t need to understand an admissions system to complete a task.
The family side includes a transition overview, next-step tasks, a simulated signing flow, preparation information, a timeline and FAQs. I wanted it to answer the questions around the work, as well as show the work itself.
Next: help families compare their options
I’d like to bring the family in earlier, while they’re considering care centres. One might have the equipment their loved one needs; another might be much closer to home. Could Family Handoff help them understand those differences, then keep the next steps in the same place?
Compare what matters to this family
Show the available options side by side: relevant services and equipment, distance from home, and which details still need confirming with the care team.
Explain the match
I’d explore a fit score with a clear breakdown of what contributes to it. Families should be able to see why a centre appears suitable, what’s missing, and how their preferences affect the comparison.
That could make this a more complete place to compare options, prepare for admission, and keep track of the handoff. It’s a next-step idea; the current prototype starts after a referral is accepted.
Before building the comparison, I’d work with families and care teams to understand which factors matter, which requirements are essential, and how to keep facility information current. A centre being close to home wouldn’t make up for a care need it can’t meet.
From a personal idea to a conversation
This was my first time using ChatGPT Astra, so part of the project was just trying it out and seeing how far I could take an idea. I ended up with a prototype I could walk through from both sides: preparing the handoff as a provider, then opening it as a family member.
I’m still figuring out what I’d change after real families and care teams try it. My own experience gave me a reason to care about the problem, but there’s a lot about their day-to-day workflow that I haven’t seen yet.
Putting it in front of the team
I later got to meet the exacare ai team in person! I showed the prototype to their CEO and other team members, explained why I built it, and attended an after-hours event to hear more about their work. (And I got a free exacare ai cap! Yay.)
That was the most meaningful part for me. Something that started with my family’s experience became a working idea I could put in front of the people working in this space and have a conversation about.
The prototype remains an independent exploration. Presenting it to the team does not establish endorsement, adoption or measured impact on families or providers.