Micah Fischer

Product Design

Redesigning Time & Expense Entry for Healthcare Staffing Workflows

In healthcare operations, every shift worked and expense incurred has a critical downstream impact on payroll, client invoicing, and workforce trust. Many healthcare organizations, staffing agencies, and managed service providers still manage time and expense approvals through a patchwork of forms, spreadsheets, and disconnected tools. These gaps lead to late submissions, billing errors, and preventable payment delays. The results are not just operational inefficiency; they created fractured confidence in the system.

I was tasked with designing a unified solution that would give clinicians and timesheet approvers greater clarity, transparency, and control, regardless of how complex the rate set.

Role
Lead Product Designer
Company
Confidential
Focus
Workflow redesign, prototyping, user research, validation design
Timeline
Q3 2025 + Ongoing enhancements
Timesheet overview showing shift counts, hours, expenses, and approval status.

Problem

Timesheets built for volume, not clarity

  • 01

    Hard to see what needed action

    The timesheet overview lacked the visual hierarchy needed to identify what required action, and individual timesheets were dense and difficult to scan, making review slow and error-prone.

  • 02

    Rates calculated by hand

    Without automated logic for overtime, gratis, and guaranteed hours, rate calculations had to be applied manually, introducing both errors and significant administrative overhead.

  • 03

    No way to compare shifts

    There was no easy way to compare scheduled shifts against submitted time, leaving approvers with no reliable way to verify that thresholds and differentials had been correctly applied.

  • 04

    Expenses missed the pay period

    Because only one timesheet was allowed per staff member per pay period, missed expenses had to be added to a later timesheet, pushing them outside the relevant pay period and creating reconciliation issues.

  • 05

    Errors hit invoices downstream

    Errors that made it through approval had direct downstream consequences: delayed invoices, incorrect billing, and in some cases recalculation risk on already-processed line items.

Solution 1/2

Providing timesheet approvers clarity and confidence

Our redesign focused on clarity and actionability. Instead of a single, rigid table, we introduced two flexible views: a table layout for high-volume processing and a card view optimized for quick scanning and on-the-go decision-making. Both views present the same data: shift counts, hours worked, unit volume, and expense totals.

Each record now shows a complete picture: the total volume submitted, the assigned approver, and a real-time status indicator. Common statuses like “Pending Submission,” “Disputed,” and “Approved” are paired with contextual actions such as Submit, Resubmit, or Approve, available directly in-line. No extra clicks, no ambiguity.

For teams managing dozens or even hundreds of submissions, this update was transformational.

House, Gregory MD

Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital • W2

Sep 1 – Sep 14, 2026

Princeton-Plainsboro - Diagnostic Medicine #2214

Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital

13 Shifts • 192 Hours • 0 Units • 3 Expenses

Grey, Meredith MD

Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital • W2

Aug 18 – Aug 31, 2026

Grey Sloan Memorial - General Surgery #4401

Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital

8 Shifts • 96 Hours • 0 Units • 1 Expenses

Cox, Perry MD

Sacred Heart Hospital • W2

Jul 21 – Aug 3, 2026

Sacred Heart - Internal Medicine #1102

Sacred Heart Hospital

10 Shifts • 120 Hours • 2 Units • 4 Expenses

Murphy, Shaun MD

St. Bonaventure Hospital • Locum

Sep 15 – Sep 28, 2026

St. Bonaventure - General Surgery #5518

St. Bonaventure Hospital

12 Shifts • 144 Hours • 0 Units • 0 Expenses

Ross, Doug MD

County General Hospital • Locum

Aug 4 – Aug 17, 2026

County General - Pediatric Emergency #3306

County General Hospital

6 Shifts • 72 Hours • 1 Units • 2 Expenses

Table and card views

Same records, two ways to work

Approvers see the same timesheet data in either layout: staff, practice, volume, assignee, and status. Toggle between a dense processing table and a more scannable card view.

The table is built for batch review. Columns keep volume, ownership, and status aligned so teams can scan and act without opening every record.

StaffPracticeVolumeAssigneeStatusActions
House, Gregory MDPrinceton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital • W2
Sep 1 – Sep 14, 2026Princeton-Plainsboro - Diagnostic Medicine #2214Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching HospitalShifts13Hours192Units0Expenses3UnassignedApproved
Grey, Meredith MDGrey Sloan Memorial Hospital • W2
Aug 18 – Aug 31, 2026Grey Sloan Memorial - General Surgery #4401Grey Sloan Memorial HospitalShifts8Hours96Units0Expenses1MEMorgan EllisPending Submission
Cox, Perry MDSacred Heart Hospital • W2
Jul 21 – Aug 3, 2026Sacred Heart - Internal Medicine #1102Sacred Heart HospitalShifts10Hours120Units2Expenses4PSPriya ShahDisputed
Murphy, Shaun MDSt. Bonaventure Hospital • Locum
Sep 15 – Sep 28, 2026St. Bonaventure - General Surgery #5518St. Bonaventure HospitalShifts12Hours144Units0Expenses0UnassignedApproved
Ross, Doug MDCounty General Hospital • Locum
Aug 4 – Aug 17, 2026County General - Pediatric Emergency #3306County General HospitalShifts6Hours72Units1Expenses2AKAlex KimPending Approval

Solution 2/2

Entry-level accuracy that prevents downstream errors

Clicking into a timesheet reveals a full entry-level breakdown. Each shift includes the shift type, scheduled time, submitted activities, and corresponding rates, while accounting for weekend and holiday differentials so every entry is fully contextualized.

I redesigned the Add Time and Add Expense forms to simplify complex entries into clear, structured steps. Users select staff, practice, and dates, then define shift or expense details through dynamic fields that adapt as needed. Time entries support multiple activities (Base and Call, for example) stacked within a single shift. Expense entries support units, pay codes, and receipt uploads in a single flow.

Built-in notes and edge-case toggles for scenarios like multi-day shifts or missed work keep the process flexible without sacrificing completeness.

09/29: Hospitalist Night

09/29, 5:00 PM – 09/30, 5:00 AM PDT

Hospitalist Night

Base

09/29, 7:00 PM – 09/30, 6:00 AM PDT

11 hrs 00 mins × $295.00 /hr

$3,540.00

Overtime (Daily)

09/30, 6:00 AM – 7:00 AM PDT

1 hr 00 mins × $442.50 /hr

$ 442.50

Total

$3,982.50