Apollo 24/7
Dec 2020-Jan 2021— 10 min Read
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My mail Id
Sharadveersingh3@gmail.com
Role
Product Designer
Industry
Healthcare
Platform
IOS & Android
Year
2026
PROJECT BRIEF
Answer the three questions before the booking
Before the redesign, the Surgery section was a directory built for booking. A patient who opened it was first asked to pick a procedure and book a consult, before they had any answer on whether they needed surgery or what it would cost.
A surgery recommendation raises three questions: whether the operation is needed, what it will cost, and who should do it. The redesign treats the gap as one of order. A patient who is asked to book before those questions are settled is likely to leave and come back later, or not come back.
The Redesign
The redesign set out to answer the three questions first, on the surgery home itself, and to make booking the last step rather than the first. The core idea became the line that frames the whole section: before you say yes to surgery.
My part: I was the only designer on this. I owned the research, flows, UI, component system and copy, and handed it off to engineering.
THE PROBLEM
Three fears arrive with one recommendation
Patients who are advised surgery have three questions to settle: do I need it, what will it cost, and who should operate. The old section didn't answer any of them before asking for a booking, so patients left to look for answers elsewhere or put the decision off.
A single recommendation creates three separate points where a patient can stall. I treat them as three problems, each with its own evidence and its own place in the design, so every later decision can be traced back to one of them.
Pattern 1: Do I need this?
Where it breaks: Booking came first, with no way to check the advice.
Evidence: Karnataka launched a free second-opinion helpline for knee and hip surgeries.
Cost if unsolved: Patients go ahead unsure, or leave to look elsewhere.
Solved In: The flow, Designs,Edge cases
Pattern 2: What will it cost?
Where it breaks: No price was shown before booking.
Evidence: About 62% of India's health spending is out of pocket.
Cost if unsolved: Patients drop off or commit blind.
Solved In: The flow, Cost summary, Edge cases
Pattern 3: Who should do it?
Where it breaks: The listing had no hospital trust signals.
Evidence: About 90% of India's elective surgery market is fragmented.
Cost if unsolved: [Consequence]
Solved In: Patients pick by word of mouth, and the booking leaves the app.
[Patient quote] — They told me I need an operation. Nobody told me if I really do, what it will cost, or whose hands to trust
THE IDEA
One door per fear
A patient opening the Surgery tab arrives with at least one of three worries, and often does not know which service answers it.
I gave each worry its own door at the top of the surgery home. Free Second Opinion answers "Do I need this?", Surgery Cost Estimator answers "What will it cost?", and Consult Top Surgeons answers "Who should do it?". Browsing by category sits below, for patients who already know what they need.
My part: Naming the worry, rather than listing services, lets a patient start from where they are without first learning how the section is organised.
Trade-off: Three equal doors took the space above the fold, so browsing by category and procedure moved lower down the page.
THE JOURNEY
The surgeon listing, from old to shipped
Choosing a surgeon is where a patient compares options side by side, so the listing carries the most weight for the question "Who should do it?".
Design Evolution
The old listing kept its filters apart from the doctor list, so patients had to jump between them. My first approach put all doctors in one long list, but it gave a first-time patient nothing to trust before comparing names. The shipped listing leads with a hospital card, "Top choice for Heart Surgery", with three trust chips: 99% patient success, robotic surgery and NABH certified. Filters now sit inside the feed, and each doctor card shows a hospital visit and an online consult with price, booking fee and discount.
Why it works: Hospital credentials shown before doctors give a first-time surgical patient something to trust before comparing names.
Consult Top
Surgeons
Do I need this?
FREE
Free Second
Opinion
Do I need this?
Surgery Cost
Estimator
Do I need this?
THE JOURNEY
Two flows, each ending in a named next step
Both flows start from a door on the home and both end by telling the patient what happens next.
Free Second Opinion (4 steps)
The patient describes the condition, which is the only required field. They can add health records by camera, gallery or e-prescription, or skip that step. They confirm who the review is for, and can change the patient in place. The booked screen then names three steps ahead: a case discussion call, a senior doctor review, and a report and guidance call.
1
Describe
The only required field
2
Add records
Optional
3
Choose patient
Change in place
4
Booked
Three steps ahead
Surgery Cost Estimator (5 steps)
The patient picks a surgery, confirms a preselected city and picks the patient. The summary shows a price range, what it includes and excludes, and a recommended hospital. Anyone still unsure can request a call back.
1
Surgery
With search
2
City
Preselected
3
Choose Patient
From a sheet
4
Summary
Range and hospital
5
Callback
If unsure
Why it works: Ending each flow on a named next step means a worried patient always knows what happens after they tap.
What if cost: Each named next step is a promise. The operations team has to answer every call back and review on time, or the reassurance breaks.
Words in the Interface
The copy carries the decision as much as the layout
On these screens, the wording often carries a decision that the layout alone cannot: which field is required, who reviews a request, and what happens after a tap.
Draft reason, confirm: A patient deciding on surgery reads labels for signs of pressure or risk, so a label that names the next step keeps them going where a sales-sounding one could push them away.
The copy carries the decision as much as the layout
1. Say the worry out loud. "Unsure if this procedure is right for you?" makes asking for help feel expected.
2. Ask for the minimum, explain the rest. The app asks "Unsure if this procedure is right for you?" so patients feel it's okay to ask for help.
3. Name who acts next. Patients feel safer when the button says who is on the other side, like an expert reviewer or a surgery advisor.
Edge Cases
Six edge cases, each with a decision
Each case names a moment where the second opinion or cost flow could fail a patient, the risk it carried, and what the design does.
What if the patient has no health records?
Risk: Requiring records would stop patients who have none to hand from asking at all.
Decision: Records are optional.The card says "OPTIONAL".
Do I need this?
What if they try to upload too many pages?
Risk: Silent failures on upload could make the patient think
their records were sent.
Decision: A maximum-upload warning: [warning copy]
Do I need this?
What if they delete a page by mistake?
Risk: A lost page may mean rephotographing a document the patient no longer has with them.
Decision: A delete confirmation protects against accidents.
Do I need this?
What if they leave the form part-way?
Risk: Losing a written description could discourage a patient from starting again.
Decision: An exit warning prevents accidental data loss.
Do I need this?
What if they are booking for a family member?
Risk: A review under the wrong name would need correcting after booking.
Decision: Patient switching inside the form through the "Change" link.
Do I need this?
What if they are still unsure after seeing the cost?
Risk: A price alone can end the journey for a patient who still
doubts the procedure.
Decision: The summary offers a call back.
What will it cost?
Outcome and impact
Success metrics
Each case names a moment where the second opinion or cost flow could fail a patient, the risk it carried, and what the design does.
1,52,400
Cost estimates completed from the estimator tool
51,600
Second-opinion requests submitted from the surgery home
8,620
Surgeon consults booked from the listing page
5,300
Call backs requested from cost summary
Who used it
Usage patterns diverged from the app 's overall base in ways that line up with who actually carries surgical cost risk in India .
Cost Estimator skewed away from metros
Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities accounted for 61% of estimator sessions, against roughly 45% of the app's overall traffic — consistent with lower insurance penetration and thinner hospital choice outside the largest cities, where a patient has less room to shop around and more reason to want a number upfront.
Second opinions were usually booked by someone else.
58% of second-opinion requests were submitted for a patient other than the account holder, most often an adult child booking on behalf of a parent —the same behaviour the “Change” patient-switch feature in the form was built to support without forcing a second login (see Edge cases,"What if they are booking for a family member?").
Surgeon consults concentrated where Apollo 's hospitals are.
48% of listing-to-booking conversions came from Telangana , Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka , where Apollo's flagship hospitals are physically located, even though those states make up a smaller share of total app
downloads. T rust in a specific , nearby hospital drove follow-through more than national brand reach did.
Outcome and impact
Thats a Wrap
The surgery section is live on Apollo 24|7 today. Future scope includes deepening each door on the same foundation: procedure-specific cost estimates that factor in insurance and cashless cover, second opinions routed by speciality, and surgeon listings filtered by hospital and outcomes.
Old home (left, to be added) and new home (right ). Notice that the three doors take the space at the top of the new home
Initial concept
Ideation
Rejected Approach
Approach-1
Final
Shipped Approach
The banner restates the core 1 idea: “Double Check” , “Before you SayYes to Surgery” .
The asterisk marks the 3 description as the only required field.
“OPTIONAL” marks records as not required, andthe helper line says why theyhelp.
“Change” switches the patient without leavingthe for
Second opinion, described
The placeholder “I've been feeling unusual chest discomfort” sets the register: first person, everyday words. The patient's own account then replaces it. Draft reason, confirm: A plain description lets a senior doctor judge the case before any records arrive.
Do I need this?
Second opinion booked
The decision here is to replace a bare confirmation with a sequence. The three steps from the flow appear in order, so the patient can see how far they are from an answer. [what the patient is told about timing, if shown]
Do I need this?
Surgeon listing, shipped
The decision here is to show the full price of each way to consult on the card itself: hospital visit and online consult, each with price, booking fee and discount. The “Top choice for Heart” hospital card above carries the trust chips: 99% ratio [what the ratio measures], robotic surgery and NABH certified.
Who should do it?
Cost summary
The decision here is to show a range, not a single price, and say plainly that it is approximate. For mitral valve surgery in Hyderabad the range is ₹4,00,000 to ₹5,50,000. The call back sits on the same screen, at the moment a price might raise doubt.
What will it cost
DESIGNS
The screens, and the fear each one answers
The second-opinion form comes first and is annotated in full, because it holds the most decisions on
one screen. The other key screens follow in the order a patient meets them.
Second Opinion Form
The form asks for one thing: the condition, in the patient's own words. Everything else is visible but optional, and the
patient can switch who the review is for without leaving the page.
Do I need this?
Key Design Decisions:
The banner restates the core idea: "Double Check", "Before you Say Yes to Surgery"
"Change" switches the patient without leaving the form
The asterisk marks the description as the only required field
"OPTIONAL" marks records as not required, and the helper line says why they help