IHIS Contract Maintenance Redesign

American Specialty Health

Redesigning a legacy contract management system to streamline internal workflows and reduce operational risk

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My Role

UX/Product Design

Timeline

~3 months

Team

PO, engineers, internal stakeholders

Focus

Workflow redesign, interaction design, UI design, prototyping

Overview

ASH (American Specialty Health) relied on a legacy VB6 system to maintain provider contracts within IHIS (Integrated Health Internal System), resulting in fragmented workflows, high cognitive load, and operational risk due to the lack of a reliable backup system.

I redesigned the contract maintenance experience from IHIS Legacy to IHIS 2.0 to align with how contract teams actually work, reducing manual effort, improving clarity, and creating a scalable foundation for future internal tools.

The Problem

The legacy system created friction across the entire contract creation process:

  • Misaligned workflows. Users to spend unnecessary time jumping between sections.

  • High cognitive load. Dense, rule-heavy forms required constant context tracking.

  • Unclear system states. No distinction between view and edit led to confusion and errors.

  • Low discoverability. Hidden actions required memorization rather than intuition.

  • Operational risk. No reliable backup system for critical contract data.

Result: Slower workflows, increased errors, and limited scalability

Key Insights

The core issue was not just UI complexity. It was a mismatch between how contracts are structured in CRFs and how IHIS Legacy required users to input them.

Users were constantly translating between formats instead of simply transferring information.

Due to the sensitive nature of internal healthcare systems, visuals have been simplified.

Transforming the Workflow

To address this, I redesigned the core workflow to match how users naturally process contract information.

Before

  • Fragmented, tab-based navigation

  • Constant jumping between sections

  • Heavy reliance on memory

After

  • Single, scrollable workflow aligned to CRF order

  • Clear, linear progression from start to finish

  • Reduced need for mental translation and context switching

Impact: Faster, more intuitive contract creation for both new and experienced users

Key Design Decisions

1. Introduced a Clear Entry Point

  • Dedicated page for search and contract creation

  • Adds a step, but clarifies where to begin

This reduces hesitation and improves task initiation.

2. Improved System Feedback and Clarity

  • Required field indicators

  • Clear differentiation between view and edit states

  • Validation and confirmation feedback

  • Persistent contract ID visibility

This increases confidence and reduces errors

3. Simplified Complex Rule Configuration

  • Inputs surfaced at the top, records organized in a data grid below

  • Related inputs such as CPT codes integrated within workflows

  • Structured layouts for managing dense, rule-based data

This makes complex configurations easier to understand and manage

4. Created Consistent, Scalable Patterns

  • Standardized layouts across contract sections such as fees, states, and interest

  • Improved hierarchy and readability

This enables a predictable and scalable system across workflows

Final Solution

A CRF-aligned, end-to-end contract maintenance workflow supported by:

  • A single, continuous contract creation flow

  • Clear system states and feedback

  • Structured and intuitive data entry

  • Consistent interaction patterns across all contract components

By aligning the system with how users interpret contract information, the redesign eliminates the need to translate between formats and makes it easier to move from human-readable contracts to structured system data.

Impact

This solution was not yet implemented due to development timelines. However, the redesign directly addresses key inefficiencies in the legacy system and is expected to improve both speed and accuracy of contract creation.

Expected Outcomes

  • Faster contract creation by eliminating workflow fragmentation

  • Reduced input errors through clearer system states and validation

  • Lower cognitive load by aligning with CRF structure

  • Faster onboarding for new users due to more intuitive workflows

Why this is credible

Each outcome is directly tied to a specific design decision:

  • The single, scrollable workflow removes the need to jump between sections

  • Clear system states and validation reduce ambiguity and prevent errors

  • CRF alignment eliminates the need for mental translation

  • Consistent patterns improve learnability across the system

How I would validate

  • Measure time to complete a contract compared to the legacy system

  • Track error rates and rework during task-based testing

  • Evaluate learnability with first-time users

  • Observe behavioral friction such as hesitation or backtracking

Reflection

This project reinforced for me how impactful internal tools can be. Improving them directly improves the day-to-day experience of the people who rely on them.

One challenge was working within existing constraints. The initial ask was to iterate on prior solutions, but deeper research revealed those workflows did not improve efficiency. I advocated for starting from scratch to align the system with real user workflows.

This experience strengthened my approach to grounding design decisions in user behavior and advocating for the users even when it means pushing back.