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Product / UX Research Intern · WellFit Pay · 2026

Designing Payment Arrangements patients can see.

Nine weeks. An invisible billing process, designed as a product patients and dental offices could see and manage. I was the sole designer: I designed it, tested it before launch, and handed it off.

Role
Product / UX Research Intern · sole designer
Timeline
9 weeks · Summer 2026
Scope
Research, strategy, product design, testing
Audience
CEO, CFO, CPO
4end-to-end features designed solo and handed off in 9 weeksHow it was measuredPatient dashboard (mobile + desktop), automated reminders, office metrics dashboard, and the Propensity-to-Repay score. Designed end to end over the 9-week internship.
75+participants in pre-launch testingHow it was measuredTwo testing rounds I planned and ran myself: unmoderated UserTesting.com sessions, plus live sessions with internal staff and a partner dental office.
13features scoped into a roadmapHow it was measuredPatient-facing and office-facing features, documented as a roadmap from 9 stakeholder interviews, 3 dental offices, and a 9-platform teardown.
3.8/5Propensity-to-Repay usefulness rating in pre-launch testingHow it was measuredUsefulness rating for the Propensity-to-Repay concept from pre-launch testing. The patient dashboard scored 3.9/5.
Problem

Payment arrangements were handshake deals with no cap on terms, and 40–50% of support tickets asked “what do I owe?”

Insight

The moment after a financing decline had no owner, not at WellFit and not at any of nine competitors.

What I did

Interviewed 9 stakeholders and 3 dental offices, then designed all four end-to-end features myself in 9 weeks.

Result

Tested before launch with 75+ participants, handed off a build-ready spec, and presented the strategy to the CEO, CFO and CPO. The CEO greenlit it for build.

01 / The problem

A payment arrangement is a handshake nobody can see.

It worked financially. It failed as an experience: thin trust, constant miscommunication, no contact before collections.

60 moArrangements stretched with no cap in sight
40–50%Of support tickets asked “what do I owe?”
56%Of practices reported rising A/R days
0 / 9Competitors owned the moment after a decline
“They are doing handshake deals and they are not getting paid.”
CPO interview
“Patients are confused because they do not have a good understanding of how many payment arrangements I have, or which are past due.”
PM interview
“Staff were tracking agreements manually, sometimes on sticky notes.”
Dental office staff

02 / Research

Six moves across nine weeks.

Interviews across four teams, a nine-app teardown, two rounds of testing.

  1. Frame
  2. Listen
  3. Map
  4. Scope
  5. Test
  6. Hand off

03 / Discovery

Three gaps. One unowned moment.

The gap: the moment after a financing decline. Nobody owns it.

No patient dashboardEvery balance question became a phone call because no self-serve view existed.
No repayment signalA propensity-to-repay model existed, but no interface had been designed for it.
No automated remindersAccounts went silent until collections because proactive outreach did not exist.

Why these 4 of 13

13 features made the roadmap. The first four were the ones that closed a gap we had evidence for. The other nine waited.

  1. No patient dashboardPatient Status Dashboard
  2. No repayment signalPropensity-to-Repay score
  3. No automated remindersAutomated Reminders
  4. Staff tracking plans on sticky notesOffice Metrics

04 / Design

Four features, from signal to screen.

Low-fi first, then tightened with staff feedback. Reminders and office metrics share one office-facing view below.

Decline → score → offer

Propensity-to-Repay

A staff-only 1–10 score, banded low / medium / high, used after a financing decline to guide the offer and deposit.

Turns an invisible risk signal into a consistent front-desk decision, without ever exposing the score to patients.

Interactive demo

Propensity-to-Repay, after a financing decline

Drag the score · simplified recreation of the staff-only view

3/10Low
1–4 Low5–7 Medium8–10 High

Patient status dashboard on mobile

Text link → verify → see balance

Patient Status Dashboard

A no-app, no-login view reached by text message, showing remaining balance, next payment, and full history.

Replaces “what do I owe?” calls with a self-serve moment patients can trust.

Configure → preview → send

Automated Reminders + Office Metrics

Office-facing reminder and escalation settings with previewable message text, a clear on / off control, and a metrics view of every arrangement.

Creates a proactive repayment signal before an account quietly becomes a collections problem.

05 / Decisions

Four calls, and what we chose them over.

The repayment score stays staff-only; patients never see it.We didn’t want patients with low credit to feel judged. So the score quietly guides the front desk’s offer after a financing decline, and patients see only their balance and plan, never a number rating them.
SSN / ITIN entered once, not at every step.Re-entering it was repeated friction for patients. Carrying it through keeps the flow coherent.
Payments follow the patient’s pay schedule, not one fixed date for everyone.Due dates line up with when patients actually get paid.
Terms capped at 90 days, 6 months or 1 year, not open-ended.Arrangements had stretched to 60 months with no ceiling. A cap gives every plan a clear end date.
Interactive demo

Build a payment plan with the new rules

Illustrative · $1,584 balance from the patient dashboard

Term length (capped)

Payment frequency (matches pay schedule)

$0

Before: arrangements stretched to 60 months with no ceiling.

06 / Validation

Pre-launch ratings, strong enough to hand off.

75 unmoderated participants plus live staff sessions, all planned and run by me. No critical accessibility blockers. These are usability ratings from testing, not business results.

3.9 / 5

Patient self-serve dashboard

“Very easy and user friendly to navigate.”

3.8 / 5

Propensity-to-Repay usefulness

“Would save time by reducing individual calls.”

3.6 / 5

Readiness to switch on reminders

“Staff wanted proof that settings actually saved.”

07 / Outcome

Make the handshake visible.

The CEO greenlit it for build. It went forward as a tested direction, with 13 features documented and decisions locked. Launch and post-launch results aren’t covered here. The first thing to measure: does visibility cut “what do I owe?” calls?

The WellFit team

08 / Reflection

What I’d carry forward.

Find the moment nobody ownsThe biggest opportunity wasn’t a screen. It was the moment after a financing decline.
Design the proof, not just the settingReminders scored lowest (3.6 / 5) because staff wanted proof their settings saved. That confirmation is what I’d design next.
Measure what visibility changesThe open question is whether a visible balance cuts “what do I owe?” calls. That’s the first metric I’d track.

Thanks to Karey Crump, Johnathan Tebeau and Paul Little for trusting me with real ideas from day one.