Improving usability of Veterans Affairs apps during COVID-19

Why. During the first few months of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) saw large increases in veterans’ use of telehealth, MyHeatheVet (MHV), and the VA App Store. The Office of Connected Care (OCC) needed a better understanding of the user experience with these technologies.

What. Technical Assent worked with the OCC in a nationwide-wide effort to understand how the use of Veterans Affairs digital technologies was changing in the face of COVID-19. By engaging directly with users, we were able to provide key insights into how caregivers and patients were accessing and managing health care during the pandemic. To preserve VA’s institutional knowledge, we then created COVID-specific personas through surveys, focus groups, and interviews with veterans and caregivers.