The My VA page is where Veterans go after logging in. It surfaces their claims, appointments, messages, and debts in one place. A link to the health inbox sat in the Health care section, but nothing told Veterans whether they had unread messages waiting. They had to click through to find out.
Previously, the team had used an alert banner to signal unread messages. Alert banners are designed to interrupt, to demand attention for urgent warnings. A notification about unread messages didn't warrant that kind of weight. The team recognized the mismatch and removed the banner. That left Veterans with no indication at all.
The fix was small: a dot indicator next to the inbox link, visible only when unread messages existed. The pattern is familiar from other apps and devices. It doesn't interrupt the way a banner does, but it signals that something is waiting.
The My VA team partnered with the MyHealtheVet Landing Page team to implement the dot across both surfaces. Before launch, the team established baseline metrics: clicks to the inbox link fluctuated between 24,000 and 30,000 per week, with week-over-week variance ranging from -13% to +12%.
The dot launched in early September 2023. In the first week, clicks jumped to 39,582, a 58% increase from the previous week. The team checked whether overall traffic to My VA could explain the spike. Total interactions increased 15%, but no other link saw anything close to a 58% jump. Claims links increased 23-24%. Profile links increased 17%. The inbox link was an outlier.
The second week confirmed the pattern held. Overall traffic to My VA flattened to less than 1% growth, but inbox clicks remained 47% above baseline. Other health-related links also increased: prescriptions by 15%, appointments by 21%. None matched the inbox.
The dot worked. A small visual cue changed how Veterans used the page.
