Monolithic vs modular care flow design

Where the boundaries go is worth deciding deliberately: how much to fit into each track, and when to break care apart into separate care flows.

The right split depends on the care process and the organization running it.

Start small, launch early

A care flow is how a care process improves continuously, and a design in Studio may not work as intended once patients are in it.

So deliver a smaller flow sooner and expand it, which surfaces what works for the organization and its patients early rather than after three months of building.

Split tracks by intended use

Group into a track the activities that serve one purpose and tend to change together. A track that does two unrelated jobs is two tracks; fifteen tracks with one step each is fewer tracks.

Group by one of these:

• By phase of care. Diagnosis, treatment, follow-up.
• By set of activities. Data collection, information sharing, care delivery.
• By what repeats. Anything on its own cycle, like a monthly check-in, usually wants its own track. See track looping.

Separate care flows when a process has its own start condition, population or lifecycle

Where the parts share a patient journey and need to see each other's data, keep them in one care flow.

Splitting means data doesn't flow freely between the separate care flows; not splitting means a flow nobody can read.

Next steps

Next: Tips for building faster.