Overview
UC San Diego Health turned their struggling mobile application into one of the highest-rated and most-downloaded healthcare apps in the United States (rated #3). The app advances the University of California mission by delivering exceptional healthcare, expanding healthcare access, enhancing the patient experience and earning $45.9 million in mobile-generated revenue. Benyam Alemu Sood and Jeffrey Engel won the Gold Operational Excellence Award at the 2025 UC Tech Awards for their efforts.
The Challenge
We offer an iPhone and Android application known as MyUCSDHealth (app store link). MyUCSDHealth presents news from UC San Diego Health, provides visitor information and allows users to interact with their electronic health records. This includes the ability for patients to schedule appointments, pay their bills and message their healthcare providers.
In 2019, we had a high crash rate (42% of our users had at least one crash) and users reported a very poor experience. We had a very low App Store rating (2.4 out of 5 stars).
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a metric used to quantify customer satisfaction and loyalty. NPS ranges from a scale of –100 to +100. Our NPS from 2018 to 2019 was -53, which means more than twice as many people would not recommend the app versus recommend it. For reference, the average NPS score in the healthcare industry is +46.
Our patients were not happy and clearly, something needed to change.
The Approach
Our work contains a mixture of advanced software engineering, a commitment to listening to our patient’s requests and a core belief in championing digital accessibility.
- A crusade against crashes.
We lowered our crash rate per session by 94%. We did this by introducing defensive programming techniques to better handle unknown values. We introduced Test-Driven Development (TDD) and a comprehensive human verification and validation process. We also added a cloud-based reporting system to track the source and metadata of every crash. - Making the core experiences faster and simpler.
We redesigned many of our user interfaces. One key focus was to reduce the login process from a 10-second operation to a 2-second operation. We achieved this by adding support for various login mechanisms like TouchID, FaceID and Active Directory login for UC San Diego employees. We also implemented features like “remember my username” and other usability improvements. - Support for video visits.
We launched a technology upgrade and many operational changes to enable telemedicine. UC San Diego Health patients can now video call their healthcare providers to conduct virtual appointments, anywhere across the world. We conducted over 245,000 telemedicine appointments from patients using mobile devices and generated over $45.9 million in revenue. ** UC San Diego Health Policy stipulates patient compliance with approved clinic requirements; some limits to patients’ physical location for telehealth do apply. ** - Accessibility improvements for blind and low-vision users.
We performed an accessibility audit to see how people of various walks of life experience our application. We added support for Apple VoiceOver so our software can read out loud what is happening. We also increased font sizes, button sizes and contrast ratios. - Enhanced COVID-19 features.
We added support for SMART Health Cards on the Login screen. This allows users easy access to their vaccination and booster status, so they can show proof of their vaccinations at airlines, sporting events, workplaces or any other required locations. We added this feature using our EMR vendor’s code library. - Adding the latest and greatest technologies.
We added numerous features such as Push Notifications for sending dynamic messages to all of our users, Deep Links to customize our app experience based on a text or email received, real time analytics and many more improvements.
Alignment with University of California Health’s Mission
The central principle of UC Health’s mission is to leverage the full power of healthcare delivery, innovation and compassion to improve the health of all Californians.
Our digital transformation has:
- Improved Californians’ access to world-class healthcare treatments
- Enhanced patient satisfaction scores as measured by NPS and App Store ratings
- Produced one of the top-ranked healthcare apps in the United States
If patients see a low satisfaction rating, they are less likely to use our software. Patients and staff members equate a high-level of technology adoption (and success) with increased clinical safety and quality. If they assume we are using “outdated” technology and offering inferior products, then they wonder about the quality of the rest of our clinical services. This results in negative consequences for our reputation and ability to increase our clinical revenue.
The Impact
In 2020, UC San Diego Health formed its Mobile Team and enhanced our patient experience. This renewed focus resulted in tremendous business and clinical outcomes.
Operational performance:
- Used telemedicine to deliver healthcare (video visits) to over 245,000 patient encounters
- Video visits represent 16% of our new ambulatory appointments
- Increased app downloads by over 1,250%
- Increased usage rate by over 3,100%
- Doubled App Store rating from 2.4 stars (out of 5) to 4.7 stars
- Increased our public App Store reviews from 24 to 7,200
- Reduced crash rate per session by over 94%
Business outcomes:
- Our Net Promoter Score rose from -53 to +90.
- Became the #65 most downloaded free medical app.
- App is #3 in ranking for healthcare systems – behind only the US Department of Veterans Affairs and Mayo Clinic.
- Resulted in over $45.9 million in mobile-generated video visit revenue (collections) and $121.4 million in mobile-generated invoices (charges)
We nearly doubled our App Store rating, and we increased our number of reviews from 24 to over 7,200.
Figure 1: Earliest snapshot of App Store rating (April 2020) – 2.4 stars and 24 ratings  | Figure 2: Current App Store rating (September 2023) – 4.7 stars and 7,200 ratings  |
Patient reviews include:
- “Provides me access to my health information whenever and wherever I am in the world. Allows me to stay up to date with my healthcare needs. If I have my phone, I don’t need to find a computer. Simply Excellent.”
- “I hardly call my Dr. anymore, using the app has made it quick and easy. Unless it’s something major, I never call.”
- “What a beautiful system. So easy to follow and every day I discover a new feature. I have all my information at my fingertips. Specially I love the info on parking and directions since I easily get lost!”
- “Thank you for your excellent services. I am very grateful for all you’ve done for me, and your app is terrific!”
Figure: An explanation NPS score ranges.
Source: Retently 2024 Rankings – Link
MyUCSDHealth went from a score of –53 (in 2018 to 2019) to +90 currently.
Figure: Number of app downloads, from 2018 to 2023
Source: Apple App Store Connect.
| Year | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
| Downloads | 5,196 | 9,848 | 51,415 | 70,738 | 34,676 | 30,935 |
Figure: Mobile-generated video visit revenue.
Source: Epic SlicerDicer, our electronic medical record’s analytics tool.
| Year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
| Revenue | $9,451,333 | $11,743,476 | $12,493,471 | $12,267,735 |
Meet the Award-Winning Team
Team Name: Benyam Alemu Sood and Jeffrey Engel
Award Category: Operational Excellence
Locations: All patients and clinical staff at UC San Diego Health
2025 Gold UC Operational Excellence Award Winners:
| Name | Title |
| Benyam Alemu Sood | Mobile Applications Developer |
| Jeffrey Engel | Applications Programmer |
| Brittany Partridge | Virtual Care Technical Manager |
| Dave Dewey | Manager of Web Team |
| John Torello | Chief Technology Officer |
| Joshua Glandorf | Chief Information Officer |
Read More
Read the team’s complete UC Tech Awards application
Learn more about the UC Tech Awards Program
Contact
Mobile Applications Developer, Department of Information Services
UC San Diego Health
[Cover image and event photo of Mojgan Amini courtesy of Andrew Castro]
