Content review request from Cartography Team

[fmccaf1]

About your team

• Team name: Cartography Team
• OCTO-DE product owner: Patrick Bateman
• Product manager: Wes Rowe / Mike Collier
• Designer: Florence McCafferty
• Accessibility specialist: Angela Fowler
• Content writer: n/a
• Slack channel: mhv-on-vagov-cartography-team

CAIA Support Request

Describe what you need in a few sentences:

We are notifying authenticated users that do not have health registration data with a VAMC facility that they will be unable to see / use much of the new My HealtheVet landing page. We want to make sure the message is clear, straightforward and also honest about potentially this confusing situation.

Which are you doing?

• [ ] Launching a new page, tool, form, or app
• [x] Making changes to an existing page, tool, form, or app

Types of Support

What areas does your team need support in? Check all that apply.

Content

• [ ] Collaboration on content written by your team’s dedicated content writer
• [x] Collaboration on content if your team does not have a dedicated content writer

  Accessibility

• [ ] Accessibility review of wireframes and/or prototypes
• [ ] Accessibility issue (general request)
• [ ] Accessibility PDF review request
• [ ] Accessibility user research support (submit a separate, additional request)
• [ ] DST component or pattern
• [ ] Something else

  IA

• [ ] User Flows
• [ ] Page placement
• [ ] URLs
• [ ] Breadcrumbs and Left Nav placement
• [ ] Redirects

  Multilingual content

• [ ] Translating content

Timeframe

The team is hoping to implement these changes by end of sprint if possible (which is Nov. 5).

Have you worked with CAIA before?

• [x] Yes
• [ ] No

What's your team’s next step and its timing?

• Our next step is to implement this design (including content) this sprint.

Timing for your next step:

• [ ] Next week
• [x] This month
• [ ] Next month
• [ ] This quarter
• [ ] Next quarter
• [ ] 6 months
• [ ] 1 year

Is this timing related to a specific event or Congressionally mandated deadline?

• [ ] Yes
• [x] No

If you're conducting research, when is that starting?

Not conducting research at this time.

Will you release this new product incrementally (for example, release to 25% of users to start)?

• [ ] Yes
• [x] No

When do you expect to launch your product to 100% of users?

As soon as the implementation work and all due diligence is complete (QA, etc). If everything goes to plan, we'll implement by end of sprint (Nov. 5).

Collaboration Cycle

Will this work be going through the Collaboration Cycle?

• [ ] Yes
• [x] No

Supporting artifacts

• Edge case scenario we are trying to support with this content (highlighted in green). We call this user type authenticated user with no VAMC registration.

• Current state flow for National MHV portal (the one we are replacing) for this edge case scenario (authenticated but not registered with a VAMC): It's the bottom half of this Mural board

• Here is current design. I'll also type up text below.

Text: We can not display your health information. Only patients who have registered at a VA facility can use VA.gov health tools. If you believe you have registered or received care at a VA medical center, clinic or Vet center, please call that facility to find out if you're in their records.

Links: Look up a facility phone number - https://www.va.gov/find-locations/ and Learn more about VA health care - https://www.va.gov/health-care/

• Examples I've found of similar content either in the design system documentation or actually in use on the VA.gov site:

Text from this example: We're sorry. We can't find any VA medical facility registrations for you. To schedule an appointment online or to request Community Care assistance, you need to be:

1. Enrolled in VA health care, and
2. Registered with at least 1 VA medical center that accepts VA online scheduling To register with a facility, or if you think this message is an error, contact your local VA health care facility's registration office. url: https://www.va.gov/find-locations/

Text from this example: We can't give you access to this tool right now. We're sorry. Only patients who've received care at a VA facility can use VA.gov health tools. If you've received care at a VA medical center, clinic, or Vet center, please call that facility to find out if you're in their records. Find your VA facility (url: https://www.va.gov/find-locations/)

Additional Support: Collaborative Sessions

Have you already worked with someone from OCTO leadership?

• [x] Danielle (awhile back on Public Websites)
• [ ] Beth
• [ ] Mikki
• [ ] Martha

How do you plan to work with us on this request?

• [x] I’ll take this to Beth or Danielle’s office hours (health content office hours on Thursday).
• [ ] I’d like to schedule time to talk about this.
• [ ] Let’s work async and meet as needed.
• [ ] Schedule a kick-off call with your team and CAIA for your project (Recommended)

Accessibility Help in Slack

The #accessibility-help channel in the DSVA Slack, is also available to you as a resource. Everyone is welcome to ask questions or get help from our a11y (accessibility) specialists. Tag @Terry Nichols to get a11y help asap.

Next steps

Once you’ve submitted this ticket, please post a link to this issue in the #sitewide-content-ia Slack channel and tag @Terry Nichols.

• If you also need engineering support from the Public Websites team, fill out their intake request form.

• If you need a page/URL redirected, a URL changed or a vanity URL set up, please submit a Redirect, URL change, or vanity URL request

  • If you are creating an experimental design, please also contact the DST.

• If you are requesting a11y support for user research, please complete this form, next.

[laurwill]

Hi @fmccaf1 , thanks for joining office hours today! Just documenting here that we discussed some adjustments to this alert content and agreed that the green styling makes sense.

We'll plan to provide more detailed content feedback as needed when you share the updated design. Thank you!

[fmccaf1]

Thanks so much for your guidance today @laurwill

I believe I included all suggested changes minus 1: when the rest of the team saw the design, they were concerned that design system guidance did not include an option for us to use the green alert for this purpose. About the green alert component, the design system documentation says, "Used to prompt a user to sign in, create an account, or launch an online tool to access certain information."

I look forward to hearing any additional feedback from you and/or other content professionals.

[laurwill]

Hi @fmccaf1 , that makes sense about the green widget — the other option would be blue info alert styling, but I think this could go either way.

Here's updated content for the alert:

You don’t have access to My HealtheVet

To use our health management tools and access your health information online, both of these must be true:

• You’re enrolled in VA health care, and
• You’re registered as a patient at a VA health facility

If you’ve received care at a VA health facility, call the facility and ask if you’re registered.

Find your nearest VA health facility

If you’re not enrolled in VA health care, you can apply now.

Find out how to apply for VA health care

And here are notes for URL implementation:

• Facility locator link should go to this health-specific version: https://www.va.gov/find-locations/?&facilityType=health
• Apply for health care link should go to this “How to apply” page: https://www.va.gov/health-care/how-to-apply/

And 2 other notes:

• I think we talked about removing "My" from the "My VA health benefits" header below the alert, for this scenario where the user may not have VA health benefits.
• We may need to update the eligibility info here based on access rules for CHAMPVA and certain other beneficiaries who aren’t enrolled in VA health care but use certain tools — for now, okay to use this content to match what’s on our static health tool entry pages. I'll be looking into access rules for these types of beneficiaries as part of the MHV on VA.gov health tools work, so we can plan to talk about this again soon.

[fmccaf1]

@laurwill Thanks for these notes! I'm looking over the design and editing the content now and I'm realizing that the text you added here is actually untrue... the first bullet point (you're enrolled in VA health care) could be that you've applied for VA health care (that is actually when many first register with a facility) and the second bullet point (you're registered as a patient) I worry is not very clear to many users. Right now, in the design the two bullets read: You have received care at a VA facility OR you have applied for VA health care. Unless there's a concern about that language, I am tempted to keep it as is both because it is true and I think more easily understandable. What do you think? I'll attach an image of the edited content so you can see everything as a whole to help with decision making.

[laurwill]

Hi @fmccaf1 , I'm not sure I understand. The requirement is to be successfully enrolled in VA health care and registered as a patient at a facility. If you've applied but your application was denied or hasn't been processed yet, you wouldn't be able to use the tools. And if you've recently enrolled in VA health care but aren't yet registered as a patient at a specific facility, you also wouldn't be able to use these tools. Unless something has changed about the eligibility requirements, I think we should keep the both/and approach here to align with the eligibility requirements on our static health tool entry pages.

The only wrinkle here is around CHAMPVA beneficiaries using the CITI program as I mentioned above, but that's more of an edge case and we'll need to look into that more closely before we change the language.

If the concern is about people understanding what it means to be registered as a patient at a facility, we can look into updating the eligibility language on all our pages. But I'd suggest doing that all at once, rather than changing the wording only in this alert.

[fmccaf1]

Hi @laurwill I think I didn't explain well in my last comment here (sorry about that):

We are aware of a couple weird edge-cases that are informing my suggestion for the bulleted text:

1. Users who are not Veterans may have gone to a VAMC for emergency care or for a vaccine. They will be able to see information related to that care for some time on MHV despite never applying (and definitely not being eligible for) VA health care.
2. Users who have never received care at a VAMC actually are able to access and use tools if they have applied for VA health care. As part of the application process, users are registered to a facility. Even if they never enroll, they will be registered at that facility.

Given this info, the CAIA recommendation is offering false information in the bulleted text:

To use our health management tools and access your health information online, ~both of these must be true:~ one of these must be true:

• ~You’re enrolled in~ You've applied for VA health care, ~and~ OR
• ~You’re registered as a patient at a VA health facility~ (this is actually covered by the other two bullets we're recommending; the two ways to register are receiving care or applying for health care)
• missing an attribute that would allow someone access: You've received care at a facility, despite never applying or being enrolled

[MikeC-A6]

@laurwill - @fmccaf1 is correct. One need not be enrolled in VA Healthcare to see one or more of the health tools. Based on our analysis, about 1.9 Million people have been registered at a VAMC, have had an appointment at a VAMC, and do not have VA Healthcare. As an example, a VA employee may be a non-Veteran, not eligible for VA Healthcare, but has received a COVID-19 vaccination at a VAMC, and should be able to access their medical record. This is one example of many edge cases that combined add up to many potential users of MHV on VA.gov who are not enrolled in VA Healthcare.

[laurwill]

Hi @MikeC-A6 and @fmccaf1 , thanks for clarifying! I understand the edge case of someone getting care without being enrolled. I'm still not clear on this one: "Users who have never received care at a VAMC might actually be able to access and use tools under one condition: If they have applied for VA health care. As part of the application process, users are registered to a facility. Even if they never enroll, the will be registered at that facility."

If users have applied for health benefits but never received care at VA, how would they "use the tools"? We wouldn't have medical records, prescription records, or secure messages for these users. Would they just open the tools and find empty records?

[MikeC-A6]

@laurwill Someone newly enrolled to VA Healthcare may have never received care at a VAMC, but they may want to schedule an appointment at a VAMC to receive care (that is just one example of potentially more)

[laurwill]

Right, I see how a newly enrolled person could use some of the tools. Are you also saying that this is true:

• A person who just applied for VA health care today and is waiting for a decision about their enrollment can use the health tools?
• A person who applied for VA health care and was denied, and who has never gotten care at VA, can use the health tools?

[MikeC-A6]

@laurwill There is a bit of nuance here I would like to dig in to:

• A person who just applied and is waiting for a decision may or may not be able to use the tools because they may or may not have a healthcare history at VAMC. There is a distinction here between being able to see the tools on the authenticated landing page vs. being able to use the tools. As an example, someone who has never received care at a VAMC, but has just applied and awaiting a decision, our current business decision is that these users should have access to the authenticated landing page

• A person who applied for VA health care who has never gotten care at a VAMC likely will not be able to meaningfully use any of the tools. However, the current business decision is that this user type will have access to the authenticated landing page and will be able to see the tools, so long as they have a history of registration at a VAMC (which they will if they have applied). These users are unlikely to keep visiting MHV on VA, but we do want this user type to be able to access the portal (even if they can't make use of the tools)

CC @batemapf - let me know if there is anything here I didn't get right.

[aliyahblackmore]

Hi folks - I'm a writer on the sitewide content team jumping in to provide some feedback until Laura returns next week. cc @strelichl

This is the updated content suggestion based on the above information:

You don’t have access to My HealtheVet

To access My HealtheVet, one of these descriptions must be true: • You've received care at a VA facility, or • You've applied for VA health care

If you’ve received care at a VA health facility, call the facility and ask if you’re registered.

Find your nearest VA health facility

If you’re not enrolled in VA health care, you can apply now.

Find out how to apply for VA health care

Some notes on these adjustments:

• Changed "You do not" to "You don't" - this aligns with VA style guidance to use contractions.
• Using "to access My HealtheVet" here instead of "tools" to better captures all edge cases

Additional questions:

• Do we also need to address that some people in this broader group may not be able to access the tool?

[fmccaf1]

Thank you @aliyahblackmore !