SSM Health Care approached IDEO with a vision to develop a new patient care model at the DePaul Health Center that will ultimately provide the foundation for improved services. Realizing that hospital services influence the well-being and care of people, DePaul aspired to provide innovation for a comfortable patient experience. To achieve this, IDEO explored the hospital's space usage, technology, services, and staffing and then developed design concepts for a new patient care delivery system.

IDEO worked onsite at DePaul's facility to fully research the opportunities for innovation. By brainstorming, observing, interviewing, and actually living as a DePaul patient, IDEO visually "mapped" the patient-journey process. The map documented DePaul's procedures from patient check-in to recuperation. Visualizing the journey helped IDEO identify current challenges, such as moments of confusion, and helped DePaul recognize that these "moments" were "translation points" where new designs could have significant impact. IDEO created 3-D blueprints that illustrated solutions for new systems, technologies, and spaces implemented within the existing DePaul environment.

IDEO provided DePaul with a framework to create its new patient care delivery model and developed concepts to support the new model. In addition, IDEO worked closely with a cross-functional team from DePaul to prototype and begin testing some of the design solutions. By learning the basic steps of process innovation and receiving a rough implementation plan from IDEO, DePaul can now further refine and actualize the design concepts. By employing multiple, small-scale innovations, DePaul can deliver improved patient-care delivery services.