Silversheet

Developing a healthcare credentialing software, brand, and technical team in just 7 weeks

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Challenge

Optimize the healthcare credentialing process, validate a prototype, design a brand, hire a team

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Solutions

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Outcome

Product validation, web app development, brand launch, team growth

Image of Silversheet user interface

A screenshot of the Silversheet dashboard interface

Who is Silversheet?

Silversheet is revolutionizing the way healthcare providers manage their facilities and deliver care, starting with physician credentialing.

Their credentialing software serves over 500 healthcare facilities, doctors, doctor groups, health management groups, and health systems across the United States. Silversheet saves credentialing coordinators an average of 19 hours a week, allowing for healthcare providers to focus on administering the highest level of care for the community.

Challenge

Physician credentialing issues are complex to solve.

Health practitioners and administrators must comply with numerous mandates specific to practice location, medical specialization, and facility type. Administrators often find themselves spending hours of their day sifting through piles of credentialing paperwork, instead of focusing on improving the patient experience at their facilities. Doctors, who rely on the credentialing process to provide care, feel overwhelming frustration over manually filling out pages of credentialing forms and waiting on administrators to process their paperwork. The legal stakes involved are also critical, as facilities face potential closures if each file is not correctly processed in a timely and compliant manner. 

The founders of Silversheet identified this paperwork heavy process as a solvable issue impeding healthcare delivery in the United States. They set to develop software that healthcare providers could utilize to reclaim lost revenue, save time, and most importantly, focus on providing the highest level of care and patient experience.

Silversheet design sprint artifacts

4 images of writing on a whiteboard from the Silversheet design sprint

Solution

Working with thoughtbot’s team, Silversheet began a Product Design Sprint, translating three main pain points into product features for an early working prototype. 

Silversheet came to thoughtbot with 3 main credentialing pain points they wished to solve: identifying which documents were required, managing large amounts of paperwork, and making sure documents were up to date.

Prototype Validation and Application Development

Due to the complex nature of the problem, simply understanding which credentialing documents were required was a huge task in itself. By explicitly covering each and every aspect of credentialing, both Silversheet and thoughtbot teams were able to differentiate between which pieces of information were absolutely necessary and which were optional and could be covered at a later stage. They were also able to identify unknowns and potential risks in the project, which was essential for deciding what to test with users before jumping into code. After receiving an overwhelmingly positive response to their prototype from credentialing administrators, thoughtbot got to work on Silversheet’s web application.

Using an agile, iterative approach, thoughtbot was able to deliver multiple versions of Silversheet's application every day. Using Trello, thoughtbot created a tight feedback loop between Silversheet’s Head of Product and the development team. This allowed the team to continuously improve the product and rapidly deliver updates. 

Designing a Brand

User tests of Silversheet’s prototype also provided feedback around the design experience that allowed thoughtbot designers to refine Silversheet’s layout, flows, and overall branding. It was during this time that the name Silversheet was born. Together, thoughtbot and Silversheet developed a brand name and identity that was specific enough to be memorable, but also flexible enough to allow for future updates.

Hiring a Team

With their product quickly coming to life, Silversheet knew they wanted to hire full-time developers to continue thoughtbot’s agile process after their engagement ended. Their team created a job listing detailing their specific requirements and with the help of thoughtbot, began the process of building out a permanent development team. thoughtbot’s team helped with initial screenings, interviews, and walked candidates through a full-day pairing session at Silversheet to help determine if they were a fit. Using thoughtbot’s interview process and expertise in finding exceptional talent, Silversheet was able to hire two new developers to continue building out their product. 

Outcome

With the support of thoughtbot’s team, Silversheet was able to refine their product vision, validate their product through user testing, build out a web application, and hire and train 2 new developers in just 7 weeks.

In the summer of 2018, Silversheet and their CEO Miles Beckett were both featured on Camparability’s “Best Companies in Los Angeles 2018” and “Best CEO in Los Angeles 2018” lists. In February 2019, Silversheet joined forces with AMN Healthcare, the leading provider of staffing and workforce management solutions in the healthcare industry. With the support of AMN and unparalleled resources at hand, Silversheet continues to expand their capabilities to improve healthcare delivery for all.

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