BARMER Digital Health Experience Transformation

IBM iX has won several awards for the BARMER Mobile Experience, including the German Digital Award and the prestigious Red Dot Design Award.

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As one of the largest health insurance companies in Germany, BARMER together with IBM iX has transformed the digital experience to make health management for policyholders as simple as possible. A new design system makes it easier to create user-centric services that members can access from anywhere. Using the new design system, we have redeveloped BARMER’s two most important apps.

New Design System: Reusable Design- and Code Components

The new Design System developed by IBM iX redefines the BARMER digital experience across all digital services. With a new visual language, new iconography, and friendly illustrations.

Designers now have guidelines and ready-to-use components when designing new digital products. This helps them focus on the overall service design and special components they want to add – and it saves them 60% of their time.

With over 60 React Native components, 270 design tokens, and technical documentation, frontend development efforts have been reduced by 43%. Implemented toolchains and standards enable all developers to contribute to the design system.

Illustration of the BARMER Design System

The new eCare app: Digital health record and services

The new eCare app is BARMER’s electronic health record which has been developed based on the IBM Health Platform. Additional health services have been added especially for BARMER. Insured persons can receive and store their therapy documents securely and share them individually with doctors and other medical institutions. A medication planner provides reminders, dosage information and usage tracking. Digital health passports and services like the pregnancy companion, health messages or the new mother’s record support users in their individual health management needs.

The new BARMER app: Delightful health insurance experience

We redesigned this main digital touchpoint from scratch: New design language, precise iconography, helpful illustrations – all based on our design system. In the new BARMER app, tasks can be completed quickly online and the processing status can be followed conveniently. The new mailbox enables faster and more secure communication. And it’s never been easier to collect bonus points and rewards.

Supporting autonomous health management for patients

BARMER digital health services enable insured persons to take their health care matters into their own hands: Be it preparing doctor’s appointments, keeping track of chronic disease programs or supporting insured women during their pregnancy – all of these are supported by digital services. These apps also remind people to take their medication, have preventive check-ups or vaccinations, and they help them to keep track of their dental bonus, sickness benefit payments or maternity allowance. And BARMER’s digital services are becoming more and more intelligent: In the future, there will be even more personalised recommendations, reminders and services based on medical data.

New brand illustration language

We carefully crafted a new illustration style exclusively for the digital BARMER brand.
More than 80 helpful illustrations for important use-cases and topics support digital user experience with regard to brand perception and joy of use. People and their diversity are a main theme of the new illustrations: They show different characters, age groups, skin colors, body proportions and health conditions.