Mission statement

Our Consumer Product team is committed to building inclusive experiences for our members. We ensure every consumer feels respected and valued, regardless of their identity or circumstance.

Inclusive product development embraces accessibility best practices, and addresses social factors (i.e. cultural differences, gender identity, tech proficiency) and environmental factors (i.e. limited bandwidth, being stressed or distracted) that prevent members from fully engaging with our services.

We believe product inclusion is good for our members and good for our business. By breaking down barriers and creating greater access, we enable more people to benefit from our services. Inclusion is our collective responsibility that we strive toward through continuous learning and adapted product development practices.

This page includes principles, tools and resources to help you and your teams to build more inclusive products.

Product inclusion principles

Naming exclusion unlocks inclusion

Inclusion involves bringing the outside in. By identifying who might struggle using our products, we can create solutions that enable broader usage.

Inclusion promotes healthier lives

Centering diverse needs in product design creates inclusive experiences that help more people achieve their health goals. We actively seek to include missing perspectives.

Our business grows through inclusion

Inclusion is essential for business growth and survival. When we expand access to our services, we foster innovation and stay competitive.

Designing for a minority benefits the majority

Products designed for underrepresented users often include features beneficial to many. When we address diverse use cases, we can have far-reaching impacts.

Diverse teams create stronger solutions

The varied perspectives of our team members lead to products that address a broader range of needs. We foster safe spaces for learning, sharing and growth.

Personalization delivers inclusion

We ensure our members feel heard and understood through personalized experiences to build greater trust and connection.

Understanding members enhances product quality

Inclusive development starts with understanding our members' real experiences. We design intentionally for diverse contexts and needs.

Product inclusion checklist

The Product Inclusion Checklist helps designers and product owners create more inclusive products. Users of the checklist will reflect on prompts in 9 unique categories of inclusion. Product teams should use the checklist during the design and development processes, particularly in the UX design phase, before engineering development begins, when there is opportunity to influence the user experience.

“Under conditions of complexity, not only are checklists a help, they are required for success.” ― Atul Gawande, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right

You can use the checklist in Figma files, or as a PowerPoint

Link to Checklist - Figma FormatLink to Checklist - PowerPoint Format

Product inclusion audit tool

Our audit tool helps teams evaluate digital products for inclusivity. It supports user-centered design by providing standards and guidelines to create welcoming, adaptable and supportive digital experiences. The purpose of this is not to 'pass' or 'fail' products, but to promote reflection about product and user experience decisions and to benchmark our progress toward developing more inclusive experiences.

You can use the audit tool in PowerPoint

Link to Audit Tool PowerPoint

Contact us

Our Consumer Product Inclusion initiative is on a mission to enable all teams with the tools to create more inclusive experiences. If you are interested in guidance on how to incorporate these tools into an upcoming project, or have questions or feedback, please reach out at  ProductInclusion@ds.uhc.com

Have you already tried using one of these tools? If so, please send us a note — we want to hear how it went!