Transfer Prescriptions

Lead Product Designer • iOS, Android, responsive web

Key contributions

  • Identified a critical usability issue through analytics: 45% of patients in the analyzed Step 1 population exited through a link to an alternate transfer flow.

  • Redesigned the interaction and content to clarify the transfer process and help patients stay on the intended path.

  • Collaborated with product and engineering to implement the targeted fix ahead of broader experience improvements.

  • Established pharmacy's first design QA process, later adopted by 30+ team members across design, product, and engineering.

Business context

  • 1.8B+ prescriptions filled in 2025.

  • 60M+ digital customers across CVS Health's pharmacy ecosystem.

  • No. 1 U.S. pharmacy by prescription sales (historical ranking).

The problem

I inherited approved designs with usability issues shortly before development handoff. After launch, analytics revealed that 45% of patients in the analyzed Step 1 population exited through a link to a different transfer flow. Only 16% of those patients started that alternate flow.

These findings highlighted a significant point of friction and the need for a clearer transfer experience.

The goals

💊 For patients

  • Transfer prescriptions online without calling the pharmacy.

  • Move prescriptions to a preferred CVS location.

  • Manage medications more conveniently.

👩🏻‍⚕️ For CVS Health

  • Improve the digital prescription transfer experience.

  • Encourage patients to complete transfers online.

  • Reduce unnecessary pharmacy calls and operational costs.

My role

  • Product design

  • Interaction design

  • Visual design

  • Behavioral analytics

  • Cross-functional influence

  • Process leadership

Project overview

CVS has two prescription transfer flows:

Non-CVS → CVS
Transfer prescriptions from another pharmacy (signed-in users and guests). ♥️ The focus of this project.

CVS ↔ CVS
Transfer prescriptions between CVS locations.

Leadership & Influence

Proactively identifying risks

  • Context: Inherited approved designs shortly before development handoff.

  • Initiative: Within my first two days, identified and documented usability risks, including excessive content and controls that could overwhelm patients.

  • Decision: Raised concerns with Product and aligned on launching as planned, with proposed improvements added to the backlog for a potential fast-follow release.

Establishing pharmacy's first design QA process

  • Problem: Inconsistent QA practices and limited visibility into issues and approvals.

  • Initiative: Proactively created a standardized process connecting Figma, Confluence, and Rally/Jira.

  • Leadership: Led two colleagues in refining the process and trained 12+ designers.

  • Impact: Adopted by 30+ teammates across Product, Design, Content, and Engineering, improving visibility into defects, ownership, and approvals.

Using the QA process

During CVS Pharmacy's first Flutter implementation: a framework for building cross-platform applications across iOS, Android, and web. I partnered with Product, Pharmacy, Content, and Engineering to review builds across iOS, Android, and web, prioritize defects, and verify fixes using the QA process I established.

Investigating the drop-off

Adobe Analytics revealed a significant drop-off at Step 1:

  • 45% of patients tapped "Select a CVS location," leaving the transfer flow.

  • Only 16% of those patients started the alternate CVS-to-CVS flow.

Without user testing, I developed two hypotheses:

  • Hypothesis A: Discoverability

    Patients seeking the CVS-to-CVS flow may have struggled to find the link near the bottom of a lengthy screen.

  • Hypothesis B: Comprehension

    Other patients may have mistaken the link for a required step because its placement and styling made it appear part of the primary flow.

Designing & shipping the fix

Design approach

With limited time for a larger redesign, I focused on improving discoverability, visual hierarchy, and comprehension.

I made three targeted changes to help patients choose the correct transfer path:

  1. Improved discoverability: Moved the link higher, beneath "Pharmacy name."

  2. Clarified hierarchy: Replaced the prominent blue link and arrow with a less visually dominant text link.

  3. Improved comprehension: Partnered with Content to clarify the wording.

    • Before: "Need to transfer between CVS locations? Select a CVS location ›"

    • After: "Is your prescription already at a CVS? Change your pickup location."

The fix shipped in 2 weeks across iOS, Android, and web. 🚀

Before

After

What I'd measure

I transitioned to another team before follow-up analytics were available. To evaluate the change, I'd measure:

  • Step 1 completion: Did more patients progress through the transfer flow?

  • Alternate-flow conversion: Did more patients who selected "Change your pickup location" begin the CVS-to-CVS flow?

Reimagining the transfer experience

After shipping the targeted fix, I revisited the broader transfer experience to explore opportunities to reduce complexity and make the process easier for patients.

This was an independent concept exploration, not a shipped redesign.

Before: Choose a patient.
After: Choose a patient.

Step 1: Choose a patient

Design goal: Reduce cognitive load

  • Simplified the interface: Removed decorative content, redundant copy, and navigation distractions.

  • Improved progress visibility: Added an accurate step indicator.

  • Clarified action hierarchy: Made "Add someone else" a secondary action.

  • Aligned with platform conventions: Used familiar native components and simplified the cancellation action.

Before: Choose a current pharmacy.
After: Choose a current pharmacy.

Step 2: Choose current pharmacy

Design goal: Improve discoverability and clarity

  • Simplified search: Combined pharmacy name, address, and ZIP code into one search field.

  • Improved discoverability: Moved the alternate transfer link closer to the pharmacy search.

  • Added context: Displayed distance to help patients identify the correct location.

  • Reduced competing controls: Made phone search secondary and moved supporting information into a sheet.

  • Aligned with platform patterns: Used appropriate native selection controls.

Before: Choose prescriptions.
After: Choose prescriptions.

Step 3: Choose prescriptions

Design goal: Reduce effort and prevent errors

  • Clarified inputs: Added examples to help patients enter prescription names and dosages.

  • Improved selection feedback: Updated the primary button to show the number of selected prescriptions.

  • Reduced cognitive load: Removed redundant information and shortened instructions.

  • Simplified the interface: Moved secondary legal information into a sheet.

Edge cases and errors

Designed consistent error and empty states that explain what happened and guide patients toward their next step.

System-level error

System-level error

Field-level validation error for a list

System-level error

Team feedback

“Time and time again I’m impressed with the care, thoroughness and great quality of Nancy’s work—both how she works with people and the designs that she produces. She’s able to make good progress while collaborating with fellow designers and SCRUM team members. I note particularly how she gracefully handles many unexpected challenges that come up as details need to be worked out with development teams. When Nancy’s working on something, I’m happy to know I don’t need to worry about it, and I can look forward to excellent work and positive collaboration.” — UX Design Senior Manager, CVS Health

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