Provider Compare
The first responsive web comparison experience for UnitedHealthcare's Find Care — bringing side-by-side provider comparison to web for the first time, designed mobile-first.
The mobile app could compare providers. The web couldn't. Most members were on the web.
UnitedHealthcare's mobile app had a provider comparison experience. But members accessing Find Care on the web had no way to compare providers side by side — they had to open multiple detail pages, hold information in their head, and make a high-stakes decision without ever seeing their options together. The web experience was where the majority of members were. And it had nothing. Provider Compare was built to close that gap — not a port of the mobile app, but a purpose-built responsive web experience that started with the hardest constraint: how do you make a comparison grid work on a phone browser?
What I owned
- End-to-end UX from concept to launch
- Responsive comparison grid — desktop and mobile web
- Comparison attribute hierarchy and information architecture
- Smart Choice badge integration within compare
- Usability testing across desktop and mobile web
- Handoff and design system documentation
"A comparison grid on mobile web isn't a layout problem. It's a prioritization problem. You can't show four columns on a phone browser — so the question becomes: what do members actually need to compare, and in what order? We stopped trying to compress the desktop grid and started asking what comparison means when you can only see two providers at a time. The answer changed the desktop design too."
Three decisions that defined the experience
Mobile web shows two providers, not four
The desktop experience shows four providers side by side. Compressing that to mobile web broke everything — text became unreadable, rows collapsed, the comparison lost meaning. The decision was to redesign mobile as a 2-up experience with horizontal pagination. Members swipe to see more providers while the comparison rows stay locked. You always know what you're comparing, even when you can only see two at a time.
Row labels are fixed — only columns scroll
Early mobile designs let members scroll both horizontally and vertically. Testing showed members lost their place — they'd scroll right to see a new provider and forget which row they were on. We locked the row labels to the left and let only the provider columns scroll horizontally. One axis of movement. The comparison stayed legible on any screen size.
Quality, Benefits, Convenience, Personal Fit — in that order
We tested multiple orderings of comparison attributes. Members made faster, more confident decisions when Quality came first — not cost, not distance. Understanding who the provider was before seeing what they cost changed how members weighted the decision. The order of information is the design.
What shipped and what it changed
Provider Compare shipped as the first responsive web comparison experience in UnitedHealthcare's Find Care product. Members on web mobile could now compare providers side by side for the first time — without needing the native app, without losing context, and without giving up the signals that mattered. The 2-up mobile pattern became a reference point for future comparison work across the platform.
If we had another quarter
I would have pushed for a saved comparison state — let members bookmark a set of providers and return to them later. Choosing a provider in healthcare is rarely a single session decision. Members research, close the browser, talk to someone, and come back. We designed for the session. We should have designed for the journey. I'd also have explored connecting Smart Choice into the compare experience more deeply — after a member has looked at four providers, surfacing a recommended pick based on their comparison behavior. The data was there. The connection wasn't built yet.