Privacy, Usability, and Accessibility-
A Careful Balancing Act
As with all health technology, meeting all applicable legal and regulatory requirements in respect of privacy is of paramount importance.
Learn how CHIME has struck a careful balance using privacy by design principles to still ensure its technology is usable and accessible to a wide range of individuals.
1) Kiosks
A well-designed check-in process should be fast, intuitive, and accessible to as many individuals as possible, including those with physical, cognitive, or sensory challenges. CHIME’s kiosk-based check-in system is designed with privacy by design principles while ensuring a seamless experience for patients of all abilities.
To enhance both usability and accessibility, our approach eliminates the need for patients to manually enter sensitive information—such as a health number, birth date, or phone number—or to swipe a healthcare card. Instead, patients simply identify themselves using their first name and last initial. This approach removes unnecessary complexity, making the system easier to use while still protecting privacy.
Key accessibility, privacy, and usability considerations include:
Minimal Cognitive Load: Patients don’t need to remember and enter long identification numbers, reducing barriers for individuals with memory challenges, language processing difficulties, or limited literacy.
Limited Identification for Privacy: Patients confirm their identity using only their first name and last initial, instead of full names or other personally identifiable details.
Restricted Visibility: The kiosk only displays a small subset of upcoming patients, rather than the entire day’s schedule, to limit exposure of patient information.
Automatic Removal for Privacy Protection: Once a patient checks in, their name is immediately removed from the display, reducing the risk of lingering personal information.
User-Friendly Interface: The kiosk uses large, high-contrast text, intuitive navigation, and touch-friendly buttons, making it accessible for individuals with limited dexterity, visual impairments, or other physical challenges.
Multilingual Support: The system supports multiple languages, allowing patients to interact with the kiosk in their preferred language. This enhances accessibility for non-native speakers and ensures a more inclusive experience for diverse patient populations.
2) Waiting Room Screens
In a busy clinic environment, an effective waiting room display should provide clear and timely updates while maintaining patient privacy and ensuring accessibility for all individuals, including those with physical or other challenges. CHIME achieves this balance by displaying only essential details—patient first name, last initial, and estimated wait time—ensuring that patients receive the information they need in an intuitive and inclusive manner.
To further enhance accessibility, the system provides both visual and auditory notifications when it is time for a patient to proceed. A typical announcement might state: "John S, please proceed to Room 4."
Key accessibility, privacy, and usability considerations include:
Minimal Identifying Information: Displaying only the first name and last initial reduces the risk of exposure while ensuring patients can recognize their place in the queue.
Multi-Sensory Communication: Patients receive both visual cues (on-screen display) and auditory cues (verbal announcement) to accommodate individuals with visual or hearing impairments.
Timely and Controlled Visibility: Patients only appear on the screen while waiting and are removed once they are called, maintaining privacy and reducing clutter.
Flexible Display Options: Clinics can configure the system to adjust display preferences, such as whether to show the physician’s name or whether to include the last initial, allowing customization based on privacy policies and patient preferences.
Simple, Intuitive Design: The interface is designed with clear text, high contrast, and easy-to-read fonts to improve readability for individuals with low vision or cognitive challenges.
Auditory Reinforcement: Verbal announcements reduce reliance on reading small text, assisting those with vision impairments, language processing differences, or individuals who may be distracted in a busy waiting room.
Multilingual Support: The system supports multiple languages, allowing patients to listen to the waiting room display in their preferred language. This enhances accessibility for non-native speakers and ensures a more inclusive experience for diverse patient populations.
How Best to Handle Patient Names?
A common question when discussing privacy and usability is whether it is appropriate to publicly display patient names in healthcare settings. CHIME takes a consistent and thoughtful approach to this issue, ensuring that only first names and last initials are used in a way that balances privacy, usability, and accessibility in the following publicly visible scenarios:
Kiosks
Waiting room screens
Room tablets
Since names serve an essential role across these different components, any decision to eliminate them would need to be applied consistently across the entire system. However, removing names entirely would drastically reduce usability—making the system far less practical and significantly increasing barriers to patient interaction.
Additionally, the use of patient first names is standard practice in many healthcare environments, including:
Doctor’s offices and clinics, where patients are commonly called by their first name when it is time for their appointment.
Whiteboards inside and outside patient rooms, where first names are often written to assist staff in patient identification.
Paper labels on medical charts, frequently hung outside patient rooms in hospitals and other healthcare settings.
These practices demonstrate that using first names in a controlled, professional manner aligns with long-standing industry norms that prioritize both privacy and patient experience.
This approach has been reviewed and approved by privacy officers from numerous large health organizations, who have determined that this approach is a reasonable and appropriate balance of:
Privacy – Avoiding excessive personal details while still enabling identification.
Usability – Ensuring the system remains intuitive and easy to use.
Accessibility – Supporting individuals with varying levels of digital literacy, cognitive abilities, and physical challenges.
By following industry best practices and privacy-by-design principles, CHIME ensures that the limited display of patient names enhances patient experience without inappropriately compromising confidentiality or security.