Shayam Parasram

What I've Done

What I've Done

What I've Done

Resolving Medication Barriers at Cureatr

The Challenge

At Cureatr, we work with health plans to close care gaps for patients during critical transitions. One persistent issue? Patients not taking their medications—not due to non-compliance, but because they can’t access or afford them.

Cureatr received daily patient lists from payors like Humana, highlighting individuals who reported medication access barriers. These cases were deeply tied to Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)—like transportation issues, cost, or confusion over coverage.

Prompt

Design a streamlined workflow that enables clinical staff to identify, document, and resolve medication barriers—and improve STAR ratings in the process.

Understanding the Front Line

Our users were diverse:

  • Pharmacists and pharmacy techs making outbound calls

  • Clinical support staff documenting and escalating cases

  • Patients navigating complex care moments

  • Health plan partners tracking outcomes (e.g., Humana)

I collaborated with internal teams to map the existing process—and uncovered a broken journey:

  • No single source of truth for tracking interventions

  • Time-consuming documentation spread across multiple tools

  • No consistent reporting for follow-up, resolution, or escalation

We kicked things off with 6 deep-dive interviews with our core user: the Business Office Manager (BOM), often the administrative heart of these communities. Alongside them stood the payors; sometimes Independent Residents, but more often their adult children or designated caregivers.

Designing for Clarity and Speed

I designed an end-to-end barrier resolution interface that gave clinicians everything they needed in one place:

  • A guided conversation flow to help staff identify the root barrier

  • Structured inputs to categorize the issue (e.g., affordability, access, confusion)

  • A smart resolution tracker to log what was done and whether the issue was solved

  • Status flags for follow-up, next steps, and care coordination

The interface was paired with:

  • Training documentation for internal onboarding

  • A reporting layer that auto-synced outcomes for program tracking

  • A slide deck for payor stakeholders to demonstrate ROI and patient impact

My Boldest Contribution

This was my last major project at Cureatr—and the most meaningful.

I got to see it actually work.
One patient story still sticks with me: after struggling to afford her prescriptions, she finally got help through this workflow—including reimbursement and support navigating her benefits. For many like her, this wasn’t just about process improvement. It was about real access to care.

"Our patient was thanking me at the end of the call, that she'd now get her refill by the end of the day"

The Outcome

  • Faster, more consistent case resolution by clinical staff

    • 1.1 barriers identified per patient visit

    • 1.9 resolutions deployed per visit on average

  • Increased STAR ratings performance for health plan partners

    • 25% increase in drug plan satisfaction (pre- vs. post-survey)

  • Improved patient access to medications—especially those facing SDOH barriers

    • 50% of patients reported their issue was completely resolved

    • Most common barriers:

      • Refill challenges (383 cases)

      • Medication cost (216 cases)

    • Most common resolutions:

      • Drug coverage education (279 cases)

      • Synchronizing refill dates (150 cases)

  • A tool that made the complex feel human and actionable

Framer 2023

Amsterdam