DoT Physicals Digital Forms Submission
Digitizing and Automating the DoT Physical Process
Atlantic Health
Commercial drivers are required to complete a physical exam to renew their certification every two years. Some health conditions require additional clearances or exemptions, and may require more frequent re-certifications. For patients, this process if repetitive and changing rules and regulations can cause them to come unprepared to their physicals, delaying their certification. For medical examiners, the process requires redundant and time consuming documentation. THe goal of this project was to digitize this experience for all users and improve the process year over year.
Product Design Lead
Web App
Launched in 2025
Problem
Patients are asked to fill out the same information at each visit. Some medical conditions require additional forms and clearances, and if a patient doesn’t know what they need to bring to their visit, they could be turned away from gaining their DoT Certificate and have to come back another time.
- Repetitive filling out forms
- Changing rules and regulations
- Under prepared for the physical
Providers are required to manually type the same health information in the electronic health record, and the DoT Form, creating double work and documentation.
- Manual work
- Double Documentation
- Time Consuming: ~1.5 hours of documentation per patient
Solution: Digital DoT Forms Automation Process
- Digitizes and automates the Physical process
- Intelligent features to improve experience and accuracy for patients and providers
- Reduces overall time it takes to document DoT Physicals
Research
In addition to doing user Interview with staff, creating user personas and user journey mapping for Patients and Staff, we conducted a specific preference test to handle the cumbersome form patients need to fill out prior to appointments.
User preference testing: Health History Questionnaire
Objective:
Determine design layout users prefer for filling out the health history form (35+ questions)?
70% Preferred Carousel
30% Preferred two-column list
The Digital Workflow
Paper Forms
- Manual, written entry for patients
- Writing information that’s already in their heath record
- Under prepared patients
- Redundant documentation for examiners
- Time wasted filling out forms during appointments
Digital Forms
- Medications automatically pulled in from health record
- Previous health history auto-populates
- Logic based questionnaire reminds patients additional forms they need to bring
- Medical Examiners can re-send forms and remind patients to fill them out ahead of time
Patient Experience
What once required multiple layers of manual data entry is now fully digitized
Before
- Paper forms → re-entering information
- Redundant, time-consuming, error-prone process.
After
- Information is entered once, flows through all steps automatically.
- Eliminates redundancy, saves time, reduces frustration.
Medical Examiner Experience
Our team worked closely with an Epic analyst to integrate the experience into the patient chart, allowing the provider to access the patient’s health history form submission on our digital platform directly from the electronic medical record.
From the form submission, the medical examiner is able to review the patient submitted form while conducting the physical. When the medical examiner exports the DoT certification, it exports t
Outcomes and Impact
When patients complete the digital submission form before appointments, documentation time drops dramatically. With less time spent on data entry, providers can focus more on patient care.
- 50% reduction in time spent documenting
- Documentation is 60% completed prior to appointment when the patient fills out the digital submission form
Time spent documenting
Time spent in Physical appointment
“Really happy with the vitals, DoT screening information, and vision are populating onto the form. It has been helpful to have all the assessments transfer over automatically.”
DoT Physicals Digital Forms Submission
Digitizing and Automating the DoT Physical Process
Atlantic Health
Commercial drivers are required to complete a physical exam to renew their certification every two years. Some health conditions require additional clearances or exemptions, and may require more frequent re-certifications. For patients, this process if repetitive and changing rules and regulations can cause them to come unprepared to their physicals, delaying their certification. For medical examiners, the process requires redundant and time consuming documentation. THe goal of this project was to digitize this experience for all users and improve the process year over year.
Product Design Lead
Web App
Launched in 2025
Problem
Patients are asked to fill out the same information at each visit. Some medical conditions require additional forms and clearances, and if a patient doesn’t know what they need to bring to their visit, they could be turned away from gaining their DoT Certificate and have to come back another time.
- Repetitive filling out forms
- Changing rules and regulations
- Under prepared for the physical
Providers are required to manually type the same health information in the electronic health record, and the DoT Form, creating double work and documentation.
- Manual work
- Double Documentation
- Time Consuming: ~1.5 hours of documentation per patient
Solution: Digital DoT Forms Automation Process
- Digitizes and automates the Physical process
- Intelligent features to improve experience and accuracy for patients and providers
- Reduces overall time it takes to document DoT Physicals
Research
In addition to doing user Interview with staff, creating user personas and user journey mapping for Patients and Staff, we conducted a specific preference test to handle the cumbersome form patients need to fill out prior to appointments.
User preference testing: Health History Questionnaire
Objective:
Determine design layout users prefer for filling out the health history form (35+ questions)?
70% Preferred Carousel
30% Preferred two-column list
The Digital Workflow
Paper Forms
- Manual, written entry for patients
- Writing information that’s already in their heath record
- Under prepared patients
- Redundant documentation for examiners
- Time wasted filling out forms during appointments
Digital Forms
- Medications automatically pulled in from health record
- Previous health history auto-populates
- Logic based questionnaire reminds patients additional forms they need to bring
- Medical Examiners can re-send forms and remind patients to fill them out ahead of time
Patient Experience
What once required multiple layers of manual data entry is now fully digitized
Before
- Paper forms → re-entering information
- Redundant, time-consuming, error-prone process.
After
- Information is entered once, flows through all steps automatically.
- Eliminates redundancy, saves time, reduces frustration.
Medical Examiner Experience
Our team worked closely with an Epic analyst to integrate the experience into the patient chart, allowing the provider to access the patient’s health history form submission on our digital platform directly from the electronic medical record.
From the form submission, the medical examiner is able to review the patient submitted form while conducting the physical. When the medical examiner exports the DoT certification, it exports t
Outcomes and Impact
When patients complete the digital submission form before appointments, documentation time drops dramatically. With less time spent on data entry, providers can focus more on patient care.
- 50% reduction in time spent documenting
- Documentation is 60% completed prior to appointment when the patient fills out the digital submission form
Time spent documenting
Time spent in Physical appointment
“Really happy with the vitals, DoT screening information, and vision are populating onto the form. It has been helpful to have all the assessments transfer over automatically.”
DoT Physicals Digital Forms Submission
Digitizing and Automating the DoT Physical Process
Atlantic Health
Commercial drivers are required to complete a physical exam to renew their certification every two years. Some health conditions require additional clearances or exemptions, and may require more frequent re-certifications. For patients, this process if repetitive and changing rules and regulations can cause them to come unprepared to their physicals, delaying their certification. For medical examiners, the process requires redundant and time consuming documentation. THe goal of this project was to digitize this experience for all users and improve the process year over year.
Product Design Lead
Web App
Launched in 2025
Problem
Patients are asked to fill out the same information at each visit. Some medical conditions require additional forms and clearances, and if a patient doesn’t know what they need to bring to their visit, they could be turned away from gaining their DoT Certificate and have to come back another time.
- Repetitive filling out forms
- Changing rules and regulations
- Under prepared for the physical
Providers are required to manually type the same health information in the electronic health record, and the DoT Form, creating double work and documentation.
- Manual work
- Double Documentation
- Time Consuming: ~1.5 hours of documentation per patient
Solution: Digital DoT Forms Automation Process
- Digitizes and automates the Physical process
- Intelligent features to improve experience and accuracy for patients and providers
- Reduces overall time it takes to document DoT Physicals
Research
In addition to doing user Interview with staff, creating user personas and user journey mapping for Patients and Staff, we conducted a specific preference test to handle the cumbersome form patients need to fill out prior to appointments.
User preference testing: Health History Questionnaire
Objective:
Determine design layout users prefer for filling out the health history form (35+ questions)?
70% Preferred Carousel
30% Preferred two-column list
“Info is easier to digest and screen is better scannable.”
“The fewer questions the better. I prefer it when there’s one question per page, it feels less overwhelming. “
“Too many questions at a time makes me feel overwhelmed. I prefer to click through several pages to review questions.”
The Digital Workflow
Paper Forms
- Manual, written entry for patients
- Writing information that’s already in their heath record
- Under prepared patients
- Redundant documentation for examiners
- Time wasted filling out forms during appointments
Digital Forms
- Medications automatically pulled in from health record
- Previous health history auto-populates
- Logic based questionnaire reminds patients additional forms they need to bring
- Medical Examiners can re-send forms and remind patients to fill them out ahead of time
Patient Experience
What once required multiple layers of manual data entry is now fully digitized
Before
- Paper forms → re-entering information
- Redundant, time-consuming, error-prone process.
After
- Information is entered once, flows through all steps automatically.
- Eliminates redundancy, saves time, reduces frustration.
Medical Examiner Experience
Our team worked closely with an Epic analyst to integrate the experience into the patient chart, allowing the provider to access the patient’s health history form submission on our digital platform directly from the electronic medical record.
From the form submission, the medical examiner is able to review the patient submitted form while conducting the physical. When the medical examiner exports the DoT certification, it exports t
Outcomes and Impact
When patients complete the digital submission form before appointments, documentation time drops dramatically. With less time spent on data entry, providers can focus more on patient care.
- 50% reduction in time spent documenting
- Documentation is 60% completed prior to appointment when the patient fills out the digital submission form
Time spent documenting
Time spent in Physical appointment
“Really happy with the vitals, DoT screening information, and vision are populating onto the form. It has been helpful to have all the assessments transfer over automatically.”