Attune Health and Emotional Support App for Cancer Patients

before

BlueNote and its partners had designed an app to deliver a clinically tested stress management program for cancer patients

Needed to build community and trust within a digital environment, but early designs lacked features to help users connect

after

New community engagement feature designed and implemented to complete MVP ahead of schedule

Beat deadline for regulatory fast-tracking and secured $26+ million in series A funding

Overhauled backend infrastructure to empower rapid updates, service capacity, and HIPAA compliance

Challenge

Closing the care gap

About one in four cancer patients suffers from depression, but many of them lack access to conventional forms of therapy. Blue Note Therapeutics’ attune mobile app puts proven stress management tools and guidance right at their fingertips to support their mental, physical, and emotional health—with potentially life-changing results.

Process

Remaking “group” for a new medium

We worked with the Blue Note team to identify and understand the essential components of the group therapy model: the scheduled group sessions and the group facilitation. We also conducted user research that validated the need for a group communication component to encourage patient engagement. Then, we designed a platform that combined the existing self-paced user journey with a new private group discussion feature for program participants.

solution

Enhanced onboarding

We expanded the onboarding flow to support group communication with new fields like photo/avatar and condition information to promote trust and empathy among participants, and to facilitate the possibility of customized segmentation in future groups.

solution

QMS partnership for top-tier compliance

We worked with a third-party quality management system (QMS) to develop and maintain software products within a formally documented software development environment.

solution

Enabling inclusive conversations

With accessibility and equity in mind, we developed group discussion prompts designed to resonate with patients from many backgrounds. We participated in feedback sessions with focus groups of diverse patients, clinicians, and advocates to craft prompts with content, tone, and language that would be understandable, relevant, and respectful to attune users.

solution

A better way(finding)

To optimize the user experience, we created a navigation structure that forwards the patient’s therapeutic journey while making other important features discoverable and accessible. By configuring key elements in standard iOS patterns, we enabled participants to easily move back and forth between the session roadmap and the group chat forum, without losing focus or motivation.

solution

Re-engineered for success

We restructured Blue Note's early iteration app to dramatically improve its performance and scalability. We replaced sub-optimal php and javascript with typescript on the back and front ends, incorporated automated build, and implemented an extensive infrastructure-as-code backend that supported HIPAA compliance.

`Praise` from our clients

The technical team has been a great strategic partner, looking far beyond the scope of the project to our long-term needs and helping us make good choices.

Michael McKinley

Blue Note Therapeutics, Head of Product

Working with Twenty Ideas has been a game-changer for a science-based start-up like us. They showed genuine investment in our mission to ease the burden of cancer, in their attention to detail and quality, and their commitment to serve patient users.

Geoffrey Eich

Blue Note Therapeutics, CEO