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Big Picture: COVID-19 ResponseInnovating in times of crisis:Product lessons from COVID-19When PIF welcomed our 2020 cohort in October 2019,we did not anticipate the pandemic. For us, it turnedout to be a call to step up and serve the U.S. people ina time of need. We prioritized helping agenciesrespond to COVID-19 by building new digital servicesthat addressed public needs. We worked within andacross agencies to build digital response effortsacross FDA, NIH, VA, HHS, HRSA, OSTP, CMS, andmore.With the U.S. Department of Health & Human ServicesThese constraints led us to ask ourselves: How do we(HHS) and the Health Resources and Servicesinnovate faster and cultivate a culture of rapidAdministration (HRSA), PIF led the launch ofprototyping and iteration in the government? Moretelehealth.hhs.gov, a website that centralizesimportantly, how do we build useful digital servicestelehealth policy updates and resources for healthquickly without compromising quality and value?care providers and patients. Our PIFs detailed to theVA led the launch of the VA coronavirus chatbot toprovide veterans information on COVID-19’s impact ontheir VA benefits and services, as well as a VACOVID-19 screener tool that helps assess COVID-19risk factors at VA medical centers’ building entrances.Despite intense timelines, we ended up launching newdigital products and services from ideation toproduction in less than two weeks. Lean and agileproduct development proved to be more essential thanever in these constraints. Product managers andtechnologists can apply these lessons to effectivelyDeveloping products during this time of crisis wasbuild products and services and bring them touniquely challenging for a few reasons:production quickly. Every problem we came across was urgent insome way Visibility and scrutiny on work delivered washigher than usual Start by digging into the problem spaceBuild a strong coalition of support andThe appetite for risks and tolerance for “hiccups”partnerships—especially with those on the frontwas very lowlinesResults needed to be delivered “yesterday”We were working 100% remote for the first timewhile coming together as new teams14In this Digital.gov blog, we dive deep on our learnings:Presidential Innovation Fellows 2020 Impact Report Build your team small to stay nimbleDon’t let perfect be the enemy of good

Deep Dive: COVID-19 ResponseU.S. Department of Veterans Afairs (VA)Reducing burdens on veterans and careproviders through chatbots and moderndigital toolsThe challengeThe impactThe COVID-19 pandemic led to a surge in calls to VA’sAs of December 1, 2020, the VA coronavirus chatbotcontact centers and other communication channels.has seen 130K user sessions. Top categories forVeterans and their caregivers were—and are—veteran questions include:concerned about COVID-19 and how VA’s responseaffects their existing VA healthcare and services. Theincreased call volume (up to three hours) led tofrustrating hold times for veterans, staffingchallenges, and delayed access to clinical expertisefor callers with an urgent healthcare need. COVID-19 testing at VAHealthcare, appointments, and prescriptionsMy current COVID-19 symptoms (CDC selfchecker tool)Fewer than 4% of user sessions end with the veteranchoosing to “talk with someone about [their] specificThe solutionneeds” (i.e. connect with a call center). This resultsuggests that the chatbot may be effectively divertingFor veterans who need information about COVID-19calls from VA call centers.and how VA’s response affects their healthcare andother services, VA’s coronavirus chatbot is aninteractive, web-based digital tool to better serve thisFeedback from veteran user testing sessions andsurveys suggest that veterans enjoy interacting withincreased demand for information during theVA through this type of digital tool. Given thepandemic. The Digital Experience Product Officepromising results so far, the VA Office of the Chiefwithin the VA Office of Information and Technology, inTechnology Officer is now exploring more use casespartnership with PIF, the Veterans Healthfor interactive digital tools.Administration Office of Community Care, and theVeteran’s Experience Office, developed this tool.12:17Q Va.govThrough user research, including deep dives with VAcall centers and multiple rounds of interviews withveterans, the team learned that most of the calls wereabout a handful of the same, VA-specific frequentlyasked questions related to COVID-19. One examplewas, “how can I switch my scheduled VA healthcareappointments to telehealth appointments?” The VAand PIF developed the chatbot as a way to give thisinformation to veterans without requiring a phone call.15Presidential Innovation Fellows 2020 Impact Report HomeVA coronavirus chatbotGet answers to your questions about thecoronavirus and VA benefits and services below.

Deep Dive: COVID-19 ResponseHealth Resources and Services Administration (HRSA),U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)Accelerating telehealth awareness andadoption during COVID-19The challengeThe solutionDuring the global COVID-19 pandemic, digital healthTo address this challenge and expand telehealthbecame increasingly important. When people seek in-capacity to meet the spike in demand for safe virtualperson medical care, they risk exposure forcare, PIF led the development and launch ofthemselves, their family, other patients, and healthtelehealth.HHS.gov, a government website thatcare providers. As a result, brick-and-mortar medicalprovides helpful information about telemedicine infacilities are also offering telemedicine. Responding toplain language, and links to tools and resources forthis challenge, the U.S. government made historichealth care providers. It also uses U.S. Web Designstrides by deregulating telehealth. However, policySystem (USWDS) to easily adopt the latest web designinformation and the impact on the public was notstandards.available on a centralized HHS website, norcommunicated in plain language. This thwarted fastadoption of telehealth for both providers and thepublic.Bringing together leaders and subject matter expertsfrom HHS, HRSA, OSTP, FEMA, and ASPR, PIFenvisioned the project, articulated user needs, andsecured sponsorship for a timely execution, launchingthe site from inception to production in less than twoweeks.An official website of the United States government Here's how Y.Ouknow v0If you're having a medical emergency, call 911. If you aren't sure, read when to seek emergencY. care.TELE HEALTH.HHS.GOVAbout usFor patientsvFor providers—v 2 weeksfor website launch, frominception to productionLearn more about telehealth16 For patientsFor providersFind out what telehealth is, what you'll need (notGet information to help you integrate telehealth andmuch!), and what to expect from a visit. You can alsoget up to speed on recent COVID-19 changes tocheck out our tips on finding telehealth options.policies and billing and reimbursement.Presidential Innovation Fellows 2020 Impact Report

Deep Dive: COVID-19 ResponseHealth Resources and Services Administration (HRSA),U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)Accelerating telehealth awareness andadoption during COVID-19The impactThe website actively serves thousands of users andhas seen a positive response across the telehealthcommunity. The core team remains committed to“The Presidential Innovation Fellows wereessential to telehealth.hhs.gov. PIF Likhithamobilizing a strong telehealth workforce to help keepPatha’s leadership delivered a comprehensiveAmericans healthy through and beyond thistelehealth website where, for the first time,challenging time, with this effort finding a long-termhome and funding in HRSA’s Federal Office of Ruralpatients and providers could get theHealth Policy and Office for the Advancement ofinformation they needed to access andTelehealth.provide care. PIF Dennis Chornenky wasBuilding on this work, PIF worked with White Houseinstrumental in ensuring our private-sectorcolleagues on the White House launch of the Pledge topartners were taking the right steps to provideEmbrace Technology to Advance America’s Health.virtual care across the country. The PIFs50 of the nation’s largest health insurance plansand stakeholders committed to expand telehealthcoverage and adoption.This move helped reassure Americans that telehealthis here to stay. When patients can get healthcarethrough telehealth—and doctors can provide it—weprotect ourselves and our communities. Our digitalapproach helps keep providers and patients safe andhealthy for the long run.17Presidential Innovation Fellows 2020 Impact Reportstepped up and in to drive innovation withHHS at a crucial time and it is a model of howsuccessful collaboration across governmentshould occur.William Brady Chief of Staff to the DeputySecretary and Senior Advisor to the Secretary atHHS

Big Picture: Interagency InnovationInteragency innovation:Operationalizing CX government-wideThe challengeThe solutionOn multiple satisfaction indices, the U.S. federalAs a part of the CX CAP Goal core team, PIF isgovernment lags behind all industries. Trust ininstitutionalizing industry-level customer experiencegovernment is declining to near-historic lows. The 2018rigor including:President’s Management Agenda prioritized customer Incorporating CX best practices from the privateexperience (CX) effectiveness to improve servicesector, including new performance metrics, intodelivery and foster trust. The Cross-Agency Prioritygovernment-wide guidance documents like OMB(CAP) Goal team (co-led by OMB, VA, and USDS)Circular A-11 Section 280sought to operationalize customer experience Launching Touchpoints, an easy, low-barrier toolmanagement in an environment lacking the growthto help agencies begin surveying customers, andand competitive imperatives that drive CX in theworking with them to identify when and howprivate sector.they’ll collect feedbackCustomer experience is an individual’s perception oftheir collective interactions with an organization orbrand. A federal service is defined as the sum of the Creating and leading multi-day trainings onservice definition and management Using these trainings to show how servicedefinition and management can reflect 21ststhelp provided—by an agency and its partners—Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA)throughout the process a customer goes through toprioritization of services to digitize at Highobtain, receive, or use a public offering (or comply witha policy). Customers perceive the series of interactionsas a whole when they combine to solve a need.Impact Service Providers (HISPs) responses per quarter from more than 20 federalprogramsThe degree to which those interactions are effectivelycoordinated (across levels and agencies ofProcessing more than 1.1 million survey Cleaning, analyzing, and gleaning actionablegovernment), easy to navigate, and reduce uncertaintyinsights to inform more than 200 federal programlargely determines customer satisfaction and trust.managers government-wide and working withAgencies measure the degree to which differentmany of them to understand, learn from, and actdrivers — transparency, equity, speed, efficiency,on their own resultseffectiveness, and employees — contribute to theiroverall experience for different types of services. Developing an even more simple, streamlinedapproach for federal agencies and services incollecting feedback data for the 2021 A-11Section 280 guidance in line with improvedmethods from leading organizations18Presidential Innovation Fellows 2020 Impact Report

Big Picture: Interagency InnovationInteragency innovation:Operationalizing CX government-wide Piloting an agency-agnostic, more service-improving how our government understands andlanguage processing, machine learning, andresponds to public feedbacksocial listening and comment box data activities, such as their CX capacity assessments,and develop action plansConducting a Federal CX and Service Deliverystrategy sprint to identify transformative actionsthat inform the 2021 President’s ManagementAgendaThe impactIn a survey of nearly 100 HISP federal program100% completion of HISPs’ CX capacityassessments and action plans (and public releaseProviding ongoing advisory support to HISPs ason performance.gov/cx)they conduct customer outreach and research 10x increase in Touchpoints product usage,oriented approach to conducting naturalother sophisticated techniques for learning from The momentum generated deep within many of thenation’s highest impact programs — touching the livesof nearly every individual living in the United States —will help lead to a more human-centered, responsivegovernment.“The PIFs supporting our team have broughtsuch incredible experience to bear – providingleaders, more than 80% strongly agreed that defininga new level of credibility with Federalcentral CX measures, establishing the A-11 280agencies – to inspire change and worthinessguidance, and providing a central support team hadhelped them improve their services. This includesof these eforts. Their willingness to dive in,establishing annual routines to define federaldo everything from data analysis toservices, evaluate maturity against leading practices,facilitating workshops with executives, islisten to customers, and from this, commit to action.This, with a central PIF team supporting and coaching,provides a critical foundation to build upon: 2x increase in agency participation and HISPquarterly data submissions, and many HISPscollected customer feedback for the very firsttime19Presidential Innovation Fellows 2020 Impact Reportgame changing.Amira Boland Federal Customer ExperienceLead, Office of Management and Budget

Fellow projects20Presidential Innovation Fellows 2020 Impact Report

Fellow ProjectsU.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)Advancing safe, efcient intelligenttransportation systemsThe challengeThe solutionWith the increasing maturity and application testing ofCARMA PlatformSM (Cooperative Automation Researchautomated and robotic technologies forMobility Application) focuses on a critical area oftransportation, the DOT Intelligent Transportationcollaborative mobility research for surface-levelSystems Joint Program Office (ITS-JPO) and the Turnerautonomous systems. On behalf of the ITS-JPO withinFairbank Research Center (TFRC) have been activelythe CARMA project, the PIF serves as its chief strategyresearching safe and efficient ways to implementofficer managing project-wide strategy, engagementthese technologies.with public and private stakeholders, and technicalAlthough there is private-sector funding fordevelopment pathways.autonomous vehicles, there is a significant gap inCARMA is developing an open-source softwaretechnology research for how multiple andplatform for multiple autonomous driving systems todifferentiated autonomous systems can safely andcommunicate, negotiate, and operate seamlesslyefficiently co-exist and interact with one another. Wetogether. The research is currently split into threeneed a broader ecosystem view and multiplemajor workstreams: software simulation, prototypingconnected and automated transportation systemsof small-scale vehicles (1/20th), and full-scale (road-platform to address a looming market failure.ready) autonomous vehicle research.21Presidential Innovation Fellows 2020 Impact Report

Fellow ProjectsU.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)Advancing safe, efcient intelligenttransportation systemsThe impactIn only a year, CARMA has successfully attracted over100 project partners who have committed to usingthe CARMA platform for collaborative autonomousresearch. It has received multiple grants from acrossthe department and state DOTs.CARMA’s impact is resonating and being reused inother agencies and programs. In several white papers,DOT’s Office of Research and Technology hasreferenced key lessons from the CARMA projecthighlighting the need for cooperation amongautomated vehicles to ensure higher levels of safetyand efficiency. Several DOT modal administrators(Volpe National Transportation Systems Center,Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, NationalHighway Traffic Safety Administration, etc.) havevoiced their support and funded major portions ofCARMA’s research.CARMA has successfully worked with industrystandards organization Society of AutomotiveEngineers to create standards for Cooperative DrivingAutomation under J3216, a document of taxonomy anddefinitions for terms related to cooperative drivingautomation for on-road motor vehicles.22Presidential Innovation Fellows 2020 Impact Report—100 partnerscommitted to using the CARMAplatform

Fellow ProjectsU.S. Department of the Navy (USN)Achieving continuous ATO usingDevSecOpsThe challengeThe Naval enterprise wanted to improve and scale itscloud usage, and more critically, how they write andship software to warfighters.PIF established an agile project management mindsetacross the agency, enabling frequent deliveries ofcustomer-prioritized features that offer meaningfulcapability, even in very small increments. Thesedeliveries embody a culture of continuous integrationWriting good software is difficult, and developing aand continuous deployment (CI/CD) by integrating thegreat app takes a team. Learning to code is only aintended security architecture and operations conceptsmall portion of digital transformation. The team andfrom the outset. The solution is a combination ofculture competencies aren’t obvious and aren't a partplatform operations, infrastructure as a service, ops,of any curriculum, especially those of DevSecOps.and security. Technology is purely an enabler to buildThis leaves a Naval enterprise in need of not justthe trust that this process not only works, but works intechnical expertise, but experience and leadershipa way that can be clearly understood, and where eachthat can only be earned through working in the techperson who touches it understands what they areindustry. Additionally, organizations like thecontributing, and why that’s valuable. At the heart ofDepartment of Defense have rigorous standards forBlack Pearl is a simple want: to enable culture change.the efficacy and security of their software, makingauthority to operate (ATO) a lengthy process(historically, most ATOs take around 18 months). TheNavy w

Civic tech grows globally! The United Kingdom launches the . No.10 Innovation Fellowship Programme . to lead new products and services in areas such as healthcare, veterans support, and natural disaster relief, noting inspiration from the U.S. Presidential Innovation Fellows program. 9. Presidential Innovation Fellows . 2020 Impact Report