Novartis · Patient Support Services
PSS Leap: Reimagining Patient Support Services
Led CX/UX strategy for Novartis's PSS Leap initiative — a ground-up reimagining of how patients start and stay on therapy. Delivered a unified ecosystem spanning patient web enrollment, an in-house engagement center, omni-channel touchpoints, and data-driven insights — enrolling 24.5k patients and earning recognition among the top pharma patient support programs in the US.
Overview
A System-Level Reimagining of Patient Support
PSS Leap was Novartis's bold bet to own patient support in-house — replacing a fragmented network of third-party vendors with a unified, technology-backed ecosystem built around the patient. The program spanned web enrollment portals, a state-of-the-art Customer Engagement Center (CEC), real-time analytics dashboards, and omni-channel patient journeys across multiple therapeutic brands including Entresto and Cosentyx.
My role was to lead the CX/UX design strategy end-to-end: from patient and provider research through persona workshops, service blueprinting, and iterative design — to delivering validated, accessible, brand-configurable digital products at scale.
Identifying the Problem
Patients Are Falling Through the Cracks
PSS helps patients start and stay on treatment — but cumbersome enrollment and adherence processes were creating challenges for both patients and providers. Outdated systems, fragmented vendor services, and a lack of consumer focus resulted in inconsistent experiences that compromised the quality of care patients deserve.
Our Hypothesis
A Customer-First Approach Changes Outcomes
We hypothesized that by re-imagining the patient journey with a customer-first, human-centered approach, we could simplify the complex system of portals and vendors that provide financial and adherence support. By developing this solution entirely in-house at Novartis, patients prescribed our treatments would experience faster access to benefits, seamless first-fill processes, improved financial support, and greater adherence to their treatment plans.
Our Goal
Twice as Many Patients, Twice as Fast
Our Approach
Innovation and Excellence Through Iterative Design
To drive innovation and excellence by assembling a dedicated team and leveraging an iterative methodology. By continuously learning from our users' behaviors and addressing their pain points, we aimed to refine our products, scale seamlessly across future brands, and accelerate our time to market — all while delivering exceptional value to our customers.
- Whom are we solving for?
- What is the problem?
- How big of a problem is it?
- Apply research to design
- Design experiences
- Test / validate before building
- Patient & Caregiver
- Enterprise / LEC
- Foundation & Integrations
- Data & Analytics
- Launch & monitor
- Measure against KPIs
- Feed learnings back to research
Technology at Scale
Human-Centric & Tech-Based Experience
The PSS Leap ecosystem was built on six interconnected pillars — each designed to serve patients and providers at every touchpoint along the medication journey. The model brought service delivery in-house, replacing third-party fragmentation with a cohesive, technology-backed support system.
Research & Discovery
Our Patient Journey
By combining empathy with a deep understanding of user habits, behaviors, frustrations, and goals, we addressed real problems with practical solutions. The full patient journey spans 15 distinct stages — from first awareness of a diagnosis through long-term therapy adherence. Analytics, testing, ongoing research, and competitive analysis allowed us to continuously refine and develop user-centered products while measuring success.
The PSS Leap patient journey map — 15 stages spanning diagnosis through long-term therapy adherence, mapping patient actions, HCP interactions, and program touchpoints across the full medication experience.
Patient Personas
Designing for Real Patients
We researched and documented our patient goals, objectives, and pain points to inform design decisions and build empathy while staying objective. These insights guided our roadmap and user testing to validate our products across two primary patient populations — cardiovascular and immunology.
"I have a family history of psoriasis, and I've dealt with it for years. Recently I've noticed severe aching & swelling in my hands & feet. I want to be proactive with treatment."
- PsA can be difficult to diagnose, resulting in multiple specialist visits
- Prior Authorization process can be time-consuming and requires multiple overseers
- Lack of transparency about the entire insurance process
- Condition can worsen with long delays from insurance
"I have a family history of heart failure and I would like to do everything in my power to avoid it, however I find it challenging to navigate the trek to therapy and beyond."
- Lack of sign-up awareness and clear path to financial pathway
- Many patients have significant financial need with high NPAF utilization
- Often taking multiple drugs simultaneously — complex interaction concerns
- Some patients lack smartphones or WiFi, limiting digital access
John Smith persona — psoriatic arthritis patient navigating diagnosis, prior authorization, and specialty pharmacy access.
Steven Smith persona — heart failure patient managing complex medication access and adherence barriers.
Patient Support Personas
20+ Workshops to Define the Support Team
We facilitated over 20 workshops to define our PSS Brand, CEC Agent, and Field personas — uncovering their goals, objectives, and pain points. These sessions provided the critical insights needed to craft informed customer journeys, guide design decisions, and foster empathy while maintaining objectivity.
"Every call is my top priority to give a personalized and quality experience."
- Strive to complete all calls within 10 minutes or less
- Assist callers with co-pay enrollment, adherence, and program inquiries
- Drive results by exceeding KPIs on daily, weekly, and monthly basis
- Work towards increasing CSAT scores
- Empathize and connect emotionally with patients and callers
"My goal is to focus delivering a personalized experience to the customers that meets their needs and equipping our team with the most up-to-date knowledge articles and tools."
- Maximize team performance through scorecards and diving deeper into areas of improvement
- Visibility into overall evaluation of the process — CEC can leverage to optimize their day-to-day processing
- Ensure CEC budgets are in line with the leadership's visions and goals
- Participate in quality management calibrations
"We want to make the office as efficient as possible."
- Get patients started on their therapy
- Ensure completion of SRF TumPlatent and HCP
- Provide access to providers, including office staff, on Novartis processes and programs
- Collaborate with Sales and ADRA on updates and issues
The three patient support personas — defining the goals, pain points, and digital needs of the team delivering PSS Leap to patients and providers.
Service Design
PSS Leap Specialty Service Blueprint
The service blueprint mapped every stakeholder, touchpoint, interaction, and system dependency across the full PSS Leap ecosystem. It served as the single source of truth for aligning product, technology, operations, and clinical teams — and became the foundational artifact for every subsequent design and build decision.
PSS Leap Specialty Service Blueprint — the complete map of every interaction, system, and actor across the 15-stage patient support journey.
Key Deliverables
End-to-End Experience Across Every Channel
PSS Leap delivered a suite of interconnected experiences — spanning the patient web enrollment portal, CEC agent tooling, operational dashboards, and validated digital platforms across multiple therapeutic brands. Each deliverable was designed iteratively, validated with real users, and built to scale across future Novartis brands.
Deliverable 01
Patient Web Enrollment Journey
The web enrollment journey was redesigned end-to-end — from awareness through post-enrollment follow-up. The 8-stage flow reduced patient confusion, improved data accuracy, and dramatically sped up enrollment and service times. It was built to be brand-configurable, so the same underlying platform could serve multiple Novartis drug brands while adapting to each brand's visual identity.
Patient Web Enrollment Journey — 8-stage map spanning awareness through post-enrollment, with the emotion curve, key touch points, and identified opportunities at each stage.
Deliverable 02
Customer Engagement Center (CEC) Agent Journey
Beyond the patient-facing experience, we designed the end-to-end journey for CEC agents — the Novartis employees who connect directly with patients and providers to provide expert enrollment support. The CEC agent journey spans 5 stages, from the start of the working day through post-call wrap-up, and informed the design of the Salesforce-based agent console that agents use on every call.
CEC Agent Journey — 5-stage map from start of day through post-call, defining the agent experience and identifying opportunities to reduce friction and improve call quality.
Deliverable 03
State-of-the-Art Call Center Technology
Novartis employees connected directly with patients and HCPs to respond faster and provide expert guidance — powered by modern technology that enhanced service quality and scalability. The Salesforce-based CEC agent console gave agents a unified view of patient information, case history, call guides, and suggested knowledge articles — enabling first-call resolution and a personalized experience for every caller.
Salesforce-powered CEC agent console — unified patient record, call guide, and AI-assisted knowledge support in a single workflow.
Deliverable 04
Actionable Insights & Analytics Dashboards
We developed customizable dashboards tailored to each user type — offering insights into Customer Engagement Center performance, brand program health, and customer satisfaction across services and processes. These dashboards were designed to drive actions that enhance the customer experience, not just report on it.
CEC operations dashboard — real-time visibility into call center performance, volume trends, and quality metrics.
Agent performance dashboard — individual-level KPIs enabling agents and supervisors to track quality, throughput, and areas for improvement.
Deliverable 05
User-Validated, Accessible & Responsive Patient Platform
Through extensive user research and design testing, we developed a brand-configurable, web-based platform that informs, sets expectations, and ensures accessibility. The platform was deployed across multiple Novartis therapeutic brands — including Entresto (heart failure) and Cosentyx (psoriasis/arthritis) — and reduced customer confusion, improved data accuracy, and sped up enrollment and service times.
Brand-configurable patient enrollment platform — deployed for Entresto and Cosentyx, validated with users, WCAG accessible, and responsive across web and mobile.
Outcomes
Innovation That Improved Enrollment Into Support Services
The PSS Leap LEAP model vs. the previous outsourced model delivered measurable improvements across every dimension — enrollment rates, web adoption, call quality, and customer experience. The results validated both the hypothesis and the approach.
LEAP vs. Outsourced Model Lift
Recognized Among the 10 Best Pharma Patient Support Websites
Thrilled to have been recognized for having two of the ten Best Patient Support Websites — representing Entresto and Cosentyx. This achievement is a true reflection of teamwork, dedication, and patient-focused innovation. A direct outcome of the PSS Leap program's commitment to human-centered design at scale.