Reimagining User Authentication for Digital Health Services: A User-Centered Approach

In healthcare settings, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) mandates strict data privacy and security protocols for protecting Patient Health Information (PHI). However, this has led to a conservative approach to user authentication that prioritizes institutional compliance over patient access to health information. The UX Design at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York collected survey responses from users of our electronic patient portal and found that login and account creation are major pain points affecting user satisfaction. This talk will explore the challenges faced by patients in accessing their health information and the need for user-centered privacy solutions in digital health services. I will discuss the impact of HIPAA on user authentication, the pain points experienced by electronic patient portal users, and potential solutions that prioritize user accessibility and usability. This talk will provoke engineers, designers, and policymakers to develop practical strategies for reimagining user authentication in healthcare settings from a user-driven approach, with a focus on protecting patients' data without compromising their access to care.