Nearly 1 in 4 U.S. adults is a family caregiver.
Nearly 1 in 4 U.S. adults is a family caregiver.
More than 63 million Americans provide ongoing care for someone with a complex medical condition or disability, often helping make sense of health information, coordinate care, and navigate decisions alongside the patient. (AARP & National Alliance for Caregiving, 2025)
Yet most healthcare tools are still designed around the individual patient. Caregivers are often navigating the same complexity from the sidelines, trying to stay informed and helpful even when they cannot be present for every conversation or appointment.
What if AI could support the people navigating care together?
What if AI could support the people navigating care together?
In early 2025, AI was rapidly reshaping how people worked and searched for information, but its role in the patient and caregiver experience was still largely undefined. Tempus AI saw an opportunity to explore whether AI could become more than another source of information and instead provide meaningful support across the care journey.
Over a focused two-week engagement, we explored how Olivia could evolve from a place that primarily stored health information into an intelligent companion for patients and the people helping care for them. Rather than assuming where AI belonged, we investigated the needs, questions, and challenges that emerge across care to understand where it could provide the most meaningful support.
Understanding the existing experience
Before imagining a more proactive Olivia, we started by understanding where the existing experience was falling short.
Reviewing user feedback alongside a UX audit surfaced a disconnect between the promise of an AI-powered health companion and the value people were experiencing. Users struggled to understand what Olivia could uniquely do for them, questioned how their health data was being handled, and received little proactive guidance from the AI.
App Store review from an olivia app user, before our work together.
App Store review from an olivia app user, before our work together.
User experience audit of olivia app flows.
User experience audit of olivia app flows.
Key insights from a user experience audit of the current flows.
Key insights from a user experience audit of the current flows.
The opportunity wasn’t simply to intake and store patients’ health information. It was to help them know what to do with it.
The opportunity wasn’t simply to intake and store patients’ health information. It was to help them know what to do with it.
Exploring the care journey
Exploring the care journey
Looking across the broader care journey, doctor visits emerged as a critical moment where patients and caregivers needed more support.
Appointments concentrate a lot into a short window, from preparing the right questions and recalling health information to processing complex conversations and understanding what comes next. For caregivers, that challenge is even greater when they cannot be there.
Only 37% of family caregivers are able to accompany their loved one to medical visits. (Bratches et al., 2024)
We mapped the experience across before, during, and after a visit, exploring how Olivia could turn the health information it already held into more active support for both patients and the people helping care for them.
Looking across the broader care journey, doctor visits emerged as a critical moment where patients and caregivers needed more support.
Appointments concentrate a lot into a short window, from preparing the right questions and recalling health information to processing complex conversations and understanding what comes next. For caregivers, that challenge is even greater when they cannot be there.
Only 37% of family caregivers are able to accompany their loved one to medical visits. (Bratches et al., 2024)
We mapped the experience across before, during, and after a visit, exploring how Olivia could turn the health information it already held into more active support for both patients and the people helping care for them.
Imagine if Olivia could support you through the entire arc of a doctor’s visit.
Imagine if Olivia could support you through the entire arc of a doctor’s visit.
We explored how Olivia could shift roles as a patient moved through their appointment, using the context it already knew to provide the right kind of support at the right moment.
We explored how Olivia could shift roles as a patient moved through their appointment, using the context it already knew to provide the right kind of support at the right moment.
Before the appointment
Walk in prepared. Olivia helps surface relevant health information and prepare personalized questions ahead of the appointment.
Before the appointment
Walk in prepared. Olivia helps surface relevant health information and prepare personalized questions ahead of the appointment.
During the appointment
Stay present in the conversation. Olivia helps capture what’s being discussed so patients and caregivers can focus on the conversation itself.
During the appointment
Stay present in the conversation. Olivia helps capture what’s being discussed so patients and caregivers can focus on the conversation itself.
After the appointment
Leave knowing what comes next. Olivia helps make sense of the visit, revisit important information, and understand next steps.
After the appointment
Leave knowing what comes next. Olivia helps make sense of the visit, revisit important information, and understand next steps.
“Preparing for doctor visits is a breeze now!” — Olivia app user via app store review
“Preparing for doctor visits is a breeze now!” — Olivia app user via app store review
From health database to health companion
From health database to health companion
From health database to health companion
Our concepts helped validate Tempus’ direction for Olivia, demonstrating how a more proactive, contextual role for AI could create clearer value for patients and caregivers. Many of the interactions we explored, including appointment preparation, AI-generated questions, in-visit support, and post-visit summaries, went on to appear in the evolving product experience.
Our concepts helped validate Tempus’ direction for Olivia, demonstrating how a more proactive, contextual role for AI could create clearer value for patients and caregivers. Many of the interactions we explored, including appointment preparation, AI-generated questions, in-visit support, and post-visit summaries, went on to appear in the evolving product experience.
Since the engagement, Olivia’s App Store rating has grown from roughly 2 stars to 4 stars, with reviews increasingly reflecting the value users see in the experience. While we can’t attribute that shift directly to our work, it provides a meaningful signal that the broader product direction we helped validate is resonating with users.
Since the engagement, Olivia’s App Store rating has grown from roughly 2 stars to 4 stars, with reviews increasingly reflecting the value users see in the experience. While we can’t attribute that shift directly to our work, it provides a meaningful signal that the broader product direction we helped validate is resonating with users.
Figma, Figjam, GPT-4.5, Claude Design
Interaction design, AI in healthcare, digital health, patient experience, caregiver experience, UX auditing, prototyping, conversational AI, journey mapping, concept development
IDEO design team, including two interaction designers working closely with the Tempus product and design teams.
