Web App Development Case Study (Unite Here Health)
Unite Here Health Modernizes Legacy Systems for Best Customer Service
UNITE HERE HEALTH (UHH) is a provider of healthcare benefits to UNITE HERE! union employees that work in the hospitality, food service and gaming industries. They handle service requests from employers, members, and providers related to premium payments, member eligibility, and claims processing.
With customer service teams spread across the US, they managed customer service tasks on a desktop application built in house. Over time, the maintenance and deployment of the application became increasingly difficult, creating challenges for IT and employees alike.
Steve Nauman, UHH’s Director of IT, stated
“The legacy system was coded with obsolete development tools that lead to maintenance and deployment challenges. The UI was awkward and the functionality no longer met current business needs.”
IT and business leaders decided it was time to modernize UHH’S legacy desktop application to a secure web-based customer service platform. They partnered with JDK to build a modern HIPAA-compliant application loaded with features and a slick UI to better serve clients.
Unite Here Health Breaks With Convention
Breaking with the convention of building in-house, UNITE HERE HEALTH engaged JDK to develop a modern world-class solution. We developed the web application with True Systems, our proven methodology of delivering simple, innovative, and effective technology solutions. Our True Systems approach enabled us to build UNITE HERE HEALTH’s web application with the precise requirements that are unique to both UHH and the healthcare industry.
Features & Functionality Made Possible By True Systems
System Integrations For improved UI
The application was designed and built to connect to multiple systems via APIs. The integrations allowed the display of information exclusive to the service task at hand. This new functionality improved the UI for customer service representatives. With a centralized view of relevant data in a single display, the representative no longer needed multiple screens to access multiple sources of information for the task at hand.
Privacy, Security And HIPAA Compliance
Privacy and security are important to any business. For a healthcare organization like UNITE HERE HEALTH, it’s critically important and central to being HIPAA compliant. Understanding this, JDK worked closely with UHH’s IT managers to learn the underpinnings of the HIPAA, security and privacy requirements to build a secure web application. “JDK learned our business, systems, and architecture. They provided systems or components that readily integrate with our environment,” Nauman said.
To do so, JDK meticulously followed UHH’s coding standards to ensure a smooth transition to their development team. Also, JDK took time and great care to understand UNITE HERE HEALTH’s Application Delivery System (ADS) framework, a tool that manages user access and functionality to all of their applications. With these insights JDK engineered a web application solution that would operate and perform properly within the ADS, without downtime.
Conclusion
UNITE HERE HEALTH comes from a tradition of developing their software applications in-house. Commonly, these types of solutions do not scale, and old coding tools negatively impact performance, maintenance, and deployment as business grows. For their business-critical project, UNITE HERE HEALTH chose JDK to upgrade their legacy desktop customer service application, and design and build a modern web-based customer service platform.
“Using current web-based tools allows convenient maintenance without opening the old toolset. Deployments no longer need runtimes on user workstations. Functionality and the UI have been tailored to the needs of the business.”
Steve Nauman, IT Director, UNITE HERE HEALTH