Healthcare • Marketplace • 2025

Versum Health

A marketplace connecting uninsured patients with supervised dental students for accessible, affordable care.

View Live Site

TL;DR

Problem: 74 million Americans lack dental insurance, while dental students struggle to find patients for the procedures they need to graduate.
What I did: As co-founder and product lead on a 2-person team, I spoke with people on both sides of the marketplace, then designed and built the patient and student experiences in code over 6 months.
Outcome: MVP live at versumhealth.com with patient booking, student scheduling, and messaging. Outreach to dental schools is underway.

Role

Co-founder

Product Lead

Frontend Developer

Timeline

6 months

Research to MVP

Team

2-person team

Frontend & Backend

Skills

UX Research

Product Design

Prototyping

Overview

Versum Health connects uninsured patients seeking affordable dental care with dental students who need supervised clinical hours to graduate.

Patients get care. Students gain experience. Supervisors oversee quality. The platform eliminates the discovery problem that keeps both sides from connecting efficiently.

Problem

74 million Americans lack dental insurance. Meanwhile, dental students struggle to find enough qualifying cases to complete their required clinical hours.

Patients can't afford care

Without insurance, routine dental visits cost $200-500+. Many postpone care until emergencies.

Students can't find cases

Dental students need specific procedure types to graduate. Finding qualifying patients is time-consuming.

No centralized platform exists

Dental schools, students, and patients all exist, but there’s no single place to find and book student-supervised dental care.

Trust and safety concerns

Patients worry about student competency. The platform must clearly communicate supervision protocols.

"I haven't been to the dentist in 3 years. I know I need to go, but I can't afford it without insurance."

— Research participant, age 34

Research

I spoke with people on both sides of the marketplace to understand the real pain points.

Conversations

Practicing dental hygienist: "I really struggled to get patients to fulfill my clinical hours and almost didn't graduate. I had to pay people off the street a lot of money just to get them a free cleaning."

Potential patient: She goes to dental clinics through a friend who's a dental hygienist — easy for her to book because she knows someone. But she knows her friends can't do that. The connection problem is real.

Patient Pain Points

• Can't find affordable options
• Unclear pricing before visits
• Scheduling is difficult
• Worried about quality of care

Student Pain Points

• Hard to find qualifying cases
• Patients frequently no-show
• Manual hour logging is tedious
• Limited case diversity

Key Insight

The primary friction point is "finding each other" — not availability, not scheduling, not payment.

Dental schools have students who need clinical hours, and millions of uninsured patients need affordable care, but the two sides have no shared place to discover each other. Versum Health creates that missing marketplace.

Personas

Patient

Alicia, 34

Situation: Uninsured gig worker, hasn't seen a dentist in 2+ years

Goal: Get a cleaning and checkup without spending $300+

Frustration: "I don't even know where to start looking for affordable care"

Needs: Transparent pricing, easy booking, appointment reminders

Student

Noah, D3 Student

Situation: Third-year dental student, needs 50+ supervised procedures to graduate

Goal: Find reliable patients for specific procedure types

Frustration: "Patients cancel last minute and I lose the whole day"

Needs: Case pipeline, automated logging, patient reliability signals

Solution

A centralized marketplace — think ZocDoc for student-supervised dental care — where patients browse and book, students manage their pipeline, and all procedures are confirmed under direct supervision.

Patients can search, filter, and book in one place. No more calling individual dental schools or hoping to find availability through word-of-mouth.

After validating the problem through research, we moved directly to prototyping in Cursor — iterating on the design through code rather than static mockups. This let us ship faster and make design decisions based on real interactions.

Patient Portal

Browse availability → Filter by procedure type → Request appointment → Confirm supervision acknowledgment → Receive reminders

Student Dashboard

View case pipeline → Accept/decline requests → Manage schedule → Log treatments → Track clinical hours automatically

Supervisor Oversight (planned)

Review scheduled procedures → Verify supervision → Approve hour logs → Manage student portfolios

Design Principles

Safety first: Consent, scope, and supervision confirmation are required before any booking.

Low friction: Minimal form fields, progressive disclosure for medical details.

Trust signals: Clear supervision badges, student credentials, and ratings visible throughout.

Patient Booking Flow

The patient experience prioritizes simplicity and trust. Three core screens cover finding a student, managing appointments, and messaging before a visit.

Find Dental Students

Patients search by specialty, filter by distance and availability, and view student profiles with credentials and ratings. Each listing shows the supervising faculty member and clinic location.

Open full size ↗

My Appointments

A central hub for managing all appointments. Patients can view upcoming visits, track completion status, access visit history, and leave reviews. The interface emphasizes clarity with color-coded status indicators.

Open full size ↗

Messages

Direct, HIPAA-aware messaging between patients and dental students. Enables appointment coordination, pre-visit questions, and follow-up care discussions. Auto-saves conversation history for continuity.

Open full size ↗

Student Dashboard

The student experience focuses on managing their patient pipeline and availability.

Dashboard

Students see all their booked appointments at a glance — upcoming visits, patient details, and procedure types. A clear overview to start each clinical day.

Open full size ↗

Availability Management

Students set when they're available for appointments. The interface shows existing time slots and makes it easy to add new availability windows.

Open full size ↗

Time Slot Scheduler

The detailed scheduler for creating specific time slots. Students select dates, times, and which procedures they can perform during each window.

Open full size ↗

Messages

Direct communication with patients for appointment coordination, pre-visit questions, and follow-up care. Keeps all conversations organized in one place.

Open full size ↗

Profile & Services

Students customize their profile with the services they offer, credentials, and pricing (including free cleanings option). This information displays on their card when patients browse.

Open full size ↗

Design Decisions

Key trade-offs and rationale behind the design choices.

Task separation over unified dashboard

I considered a single-page dashboard, but users come with different goals. Separating Find, Appointments, and Messages reduces cognitive load and lets each screen focus on one job well.

Dual entry points for discovery

Some patients know what they need ("I need a cleaning"). Others browse by provider. Supporting both mental models in the Find tab removes friction for different user types.

Transparent pricing from day one

Cost anxiety is a major barrier for uninsured patients. Students indicate during onboarding if they offer free cleanings — this displays directly on their card. No hidden fees, no surprises at checkout.

History and future in one view

Patients often need context from past visits when scheduling new ones. Combining appointment history with upcoming visits creates continuity and reduces clicks.

Success Metrics

The metrics we're designing for and will measure as the platform grows.

<5 min

Target time to book

90%+

Target task completion

4.5/5

Target satisfaction

↓

No-show rate reduction

Current Status

MVP: Live at versumhealth.com

Outreach: Beginning conversations with dental schools

Next: Usability testing and pilot partnerships

Learnings

This project pushed me to think deeply about designing for trust in healthcare contexts.

01 Simplicity scales

The most powerful platforms do one thing exceptionally well. Versum Health's success will come from nailing the discovery-to-booking flow, not from feature bloat.

02 Healthcare + UX = Impact

Thoughtful design makes healthcare feel accessible rather than intimidating. Every UI decision either builds or erodes trust.

03 Real problems, real solutions

Building for a pain point I'd witnessed firsthand — friends avoiding dental care due to cost — led to solutions that resonated with every user I interviewed.

04 Two-sided marketplaces are hard

You need both sides to show up. The platform design must reduce friction for both patients AND students, or the marketplace never reaches critical mass.

Next Steps

The MVP is complete. Here's the roadmap for what comes next.

Supervisor Console

Verification tools, bulk approvals, and compliance dashboards for clinic administrators.

Eligibility Screening

Pre-visit questionnaires to match patients with appropriate procedure types and student skill levels.

Community Partner Integration

Partnerships with community health centers and nonprofits to widen patient reach.

Expand to Other Specialties

The model works for any healthcare training program — optometry, physical therapy, mental health counseling.

Final Thoughts

Versum Health isn't just about booking appointments — it's about making healthcare accessible to everyone, regardless of insurance status.

This project reminded me why I love product design: the ability to solve real problems for real people. Every decision — from the booking flow to transparent pricing on student cards — was grounded in research and empathy.

Versum Health is now live at versumhealth.com, and I'm excited to measure its real-world impact on patients and students alike.

Visit Live Site

All work Next: PDF Penguin →