If People Can Use TikTok, Why Can’t They Use Healthcare?

Member engagement is a tough nut to crack in healthcare, especially for Medicaid members, who have 56 percent greater odds of not showing for an appointment than other insured patients. Professionals across the healthcare spectrum have tried to solve member engagement since I can remember. How can we win folks over, so they consistently engage in their healthcare? Why aren’t patients motivated to get and stay healthy?

But what if we’ve been asking the wrong questions? What if Medicaid members’ disengagement isn’t a people problem. What if it’s a design problem?

Think about it. Many people who are disengaged from healthcare are very engaged with other interests. They follow sports teams online, participate in online communities, and scroll through social media – often for hours. Why do they make time for these experiences? Because they’re designed to be fun and rewarding. They’re intuitive, frictionless, and, as they say in the UX world, delightful.

So, if people can devote hours to TikTok or fantasy football, why can’t we get them to sign up for an annual checkup or respond to a care coordinator? I don’t think the problem is motivation; I think it’s more about experience.

Healthcare is hard to use

Most healthcare interactions, especially for Medicaid members, are anything but delightful. They’re confusing, bureaucratic and boring, even intimidating. Applying for coverage can feel like doing your taxes. Navigating plan options or verifying eligibility takes hours. Scheduling an appointment is often frustrating and leads to dead ends. For people juggling several jobs, family responsibilities, and chronic stress, these barriers don’t just discourage them from participating, they are reasons to ignore it.

Medicaid members often say the same thing: “The health system’s just too hard to deal with.” They aren’t rejecting healthcare; they’re opting out of a bad user experience.

Healthcare has a UX problem.

Our healthcare system spends billions trying to “engage” people through apps, portals, and reminders. But most of those tools are designed from the inside out, not the outside in. They show how the system wants people to behave, but not how people actually behave.

In healthcare, we define engagement as completing tasks: scheduling a visit, taking medication, logging into a portal. In other industries, engagement means connection, satisfaction, and loyalty.

The most successful consumer experiences actually motivate folks. They turn routine actions into habits, habits into relationships, and relationships into trust. Healthcare can’t compel engagement through compliance. It has to design it to attract engagement. 

The tech industry has spent decades perfecting how to get and hold attention. For better or worse, the design principles work — and healthcare could learn from them.

• Simplicity: Strip away complexity. Fewer clicks, fewer forms, less jargon.
• Personalization: Use data to meet people where they are, not where we wish they were.
• Feedback loops: Show people the positive impact of their actions.
• Delight: Small moments of appreciation — a “You did it!” message or clear next steps — can build momentum and trust.

Imagine if Medicaid redetermination worked like a well-designed app: members receive a text link that pre-fills most of their information, they confirm in two taps, and then instantly get a reassuring message — “You’re covered. Here’s what happens next.”  This is standard UX practice everywhere else.

The barrier in member engagement goes beyond technology – it’s a lack of imagination. Here’s the missing piece: the “interface” isn’t just digital; it’s human. And the human experience deserves the same design attention as any app or platform.

The real solution lies in combining relationship-based care with thoughtful design. It starts with trust: build personal connections first, then use technology to support those relationships. For instance, a reminder via text works best when it comes from someone a member already knows and trusts.

Experience is healthcare’s next frontier

Healthcare’s next frontier isn’t policy reform or payment reform. It’s experience reform — reimagining every touchpoint between members, providers, and plans through the lens of design and empathy.

That means inviting UX designers, behavioral scientists, and even consumer-brand strategists into the conversation. It means testing and iterating the way we test new treatments. It means rewarding organizations not only for outcomes but also for usability and satisfaction. 

Let’s keep this mantra front and center: “People engage when they feel rewarded, seen, or delighted.”

Ultimately, engagement is about trust — and trust is built through experience. When people feel seen, supported, and capable, they stay connected. When they feel dismissed or overwhelmed, they disconnect. We know this. It’s not rocket science. It’s common sense.

The stakes are high. Under HR1’s Medicaid reforms, with six-month redeterminations, new work requirements, and rising provider strain, every friction point becomes a risk point. The harder the system is to use, the more people will fall through the cracks.

If we can make healthcare easier to engage with, maybe even a little entertaining, that might be the most powerful form of medicine we have.  

Picture: Andrey Suslov, Getty Images

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