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CHAMPVA Digital Forms

Iphone displaying various screens from the CHAMPVA benefits application featuring numbered steps to fill out the form, a page asking who the sponsor is, and two pages asking about medicare.

Veterans' eligible dependents faced an outdated CHAMPVA healthcare enrollment system that involved printing hand-filling forms, and mailing them to Veteran Affairs. The Integrated Veteran Care Team was tasked with modernizing this process to enhance the experience for applicants and beneficiaries managing their healthcare.

Approaching the current VA experience

To understand the challenges associated with the existing CHAMPVA enrollment process, the Integrated Veteran Care (IVC) team conducted structured interviews with both current CHAMPVA beneficiaries and relevant CHAMPVA stakeholders involved in enrollment form processing. This initiative aimed to identify and document the key points of friction inherent in the existing processes.

Subsequent to the initial interviews, the information collected was organized by themes and then analyzed using affinity mapping. This allowed IVC to develop potential solutions for identified pain points. One key idea was to create a user interface (a website or app) that would make submitting enrollment forms simpler and more accessible for everyone. 

an affinity map on a digital whiteboard featuring several groups of stickies

Accessing Veteran Affairs' challenges

The existing process resulted in inefficiencies compared to digital enrollment methods. Notable challenges included: 

  • Lack of printer access among applicants 

  • The to need to travel to mailing locations 

  • Operational difficulties for program administrators, such as manual mail processing and data entry, and challenges related to illegible handwriting on submitted forms 

  • Extended processing times exacerbated by an increase in application volume 
     

These challenges, pain points and positive experiences were documented in at user journey map which will help inform the final outcome of the digital form​

a user journey map featuring the user's pain points and bright spots for lifestyle stages for discovery, pre-enrollment, enrolling, submitting and post-submission and

Building the Digital Experience

After studying the CHAMPVA application requirements and processes, a deceivingly simple paper form grew more complex. It was found that while the form itself was easy to understand, CHAMPVA was difficult to navigate. This often led to eligible dependents thinking that they are not able to enroll and vice versa. Also, the integration of the Other Health Insurance Certification led to incomplete enrollments. Applicants may not have understood that they needed to submit this extra form or have forgotten to include the necessary proof of insurance documents with their application. 

Missing supporting documents were targeted as the number one reason that an application would be delayed. 

IVC began contracting on 3 major aspects of the CHAMPVA enrollment process: 

  1. Ensure legibility of the application 

  2. Ensure the correct required supporting documents are submitted 

  3. Ensure that users can understand and complete each section of the application 

paper form of the CHAMPVA application
An iphone displaying the introduction page for the CHAMPVA benefits application. This page numbers and outlines the steps for submitting a CHAMPVA application
Iphone displaying a question from the CHAMPVA benefits application which asks who is the person filling out the form
Iphone displaying form fields from the CHAMPVA benefits application for adding a new applicant to the application.

IVC developed a user flow that involved asking screening questions about the applicant and applying age-based logic to display only the questions and document upload screens that were relevant to application.

An iphone displaying the questions about an applicant's Medicare status on the CHAMPVA benefits application.
An iphone displaying the Medicare card upload screen on the CHAMPVA benefits application

After creating what IVC determined as the minimal viable product (MVP), they began to capture data so that they can continuously improve the form for its users and the CHAMPVA partners. Overall the first iteration of the live digital application was well received by both the applicants and the CHAMVPA staff. CHAMPVA saw a significant increase in new enrollment forms entering their system. 

Closing the Digital Gap for CHAMPVA

The IVC team further streamlined the CHAMPVA enrollment process by digitalizing the associated health insurance updates and healthcare claims forms. By integrating these forms into the enrollment process, the CHAMPVA processing team can now receive applications and health insurance information simultaneously, improving processing speed and data accuracy. This enhancement will reduce delays and false enrollment denials.

iphone displaying step by step information about how to apply for CHAMPVA benefits online
iphone displaying  information about how to submit other health insurance information online
iphone displaying  information about how to submit CHAMPVA Claims online

All of these improved digital processes were documented on a service blueprint which acts as a visual representation of how the new digital processes timelines compares to the older manual process.

Service Blueprint flowchart featuring the various stages of the CHAMPVA application processing starting from when a user recieves information about the form to when they recieve their decision letter and benefits package
Service Blueprint flowchart featuring the various stages of the CHAMPVA Claims processing including stages from when a beneficiary visits a doctor to when they recieve their reimbursment or file for an appeal
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