Seizing the moment How SDR transformed regulatory pressure into industry leadership.
A real-time peer-to-peer cost-sharing platform managing over 20,000 member accounts achieved full compliance within a critical 6-month deadline.
Executive summary.
In 2019, new regulations required fully segregated, member-owned accounts; SDR had six months to comply while a rigid legacy system put them at risk of money-transmitter violations.
What’s more, their UX struggled to enroll and retain users.
Our 100% compliant replatform is one of the most secure cost-sharing solution in the industry that delivers rewarding user conversion, +32% retention, and +28% LTV.
We replatformed to a compliant, scalable infrastructure with separate member savings. The new system enabled thousands of real-time transactions, allowing SDR to facilitate cost sharing securely and efficiently at scale.
Client.
SDR, a pioneering force in medical cost-sharing, serves over 20K members nationwide with a revolutionary approach: making healthcare affordable through peer-to-peer cost-sharing. By eliminating traditional insurance overhead and facilitating direct member-to-member support, SDR provides families with a transparent, community-driven alternative to expensive health insurance.
Nowadays, this next-generation fintech innovator is ranked #*** on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the US, putting them in the top 4% of companies overall.
However, back in 2019, their story was taking a different turn.
Challenge.
Back then, SDR’s platform handled everything from enrollment and needs review to community cost sharing and billing. To execute efficiently at scale, member funds were pooled for management by the SDR financial team — as was consistent with the industry standard.
But the newly released regulations required organizations like SDR to avoid acting as unlicensed money transmitters. Which meant completely reimagining their financial architecture to ensure each member's funds remained in individual, member-owned accounts.
These changes gave SDR just six months to bring their business into compliance.
The legacy system held them back.
Over the last decade, SDR had fully relied on a Salesforce-based system. While functional, it was expensive, rigid, and difficult to customize. What was once an industry standard failed to adapt to the evolving regulatory landscape, becoming a compliance liability. What’s more, one of the most pivotal user experiences — member enrollment — was extremely difficult for users to complete.
To adjust, SDR needed to:
Facing strict deadlines and UX challenges, SDR turned to Reliqio and *********—trusted partners known for deep expertise in building digital health products that deliver value, retention, and impact at scale.
Impact.
Before exploring the discovery and solution, here’s how things turned out for SDR. The first phase was delivered on time, achieving 100% regulatory compliance, zero service disruption, and saving SDR's business.
For the families who were dependent on SDR's innovative approach, this success meant peace of mind—confidence that their future and health protection remained secure.
And that was just the beginning. Together, over the next 2.7 years, we continued building a comprehensive ecosystem that would transform them into the industry's innovation leader.
The transition to a user-centric, custom-built platform pushed SDR even further. Beyond meeting regulatory standards, the leap elevated the company’s vision to make community-driven health insurance more accessible and efficient, resulting in increased loyalty, and retention of users.
Let’s take a closer look at the numbers.
Enhanced experience extended average membership from 3.2 to 4.1 years.
Moving from legacy system slashed operational expenses while improving performance.
Year-over-year retention increased from 68% to 90%.
The dedicated employer portal opened new B2B2C opportunities and corporate channels.
Redesigned enrollment flow simplified sign-up steps, boosting conversions and creating a smoother first-time UX.
3.1x faster.
Automated workflows and direct bank integrations reduced avg. processing time from 7 days to 48 hours.
Additional Key Metrics
65% reduction in support calls, 2.5x faster member onboarding, 3x increase in administrative efficiency, $1.2M annual revenue from add-ons, enhanced (not yet measured) user loyalty and engagement, and many more.
Discovery.
We began by listening. At Reliqio, we believe that every successful project demands total immersion, ensuring deep understanding. From day one, we dove deep into SDR's business model, challenges, and the intricate landscape of financial compliance.
To crystalize the path forward and answer the questions of what, how, how much, why, and when—together with stakeholders—we shaped a focused discovery strategy for a next-generation platform.
Migration Risk Mitigation
Bank Integration Framework
Regulatory Landscape Analysis
Reinvented Member Processes
Platform Audit & Migration Feasibility
Secure Fund Stewardship Model
Product Development Roadmap
Member Insights & Pain Points
After carefully comparing the costs, risks, and rewards of investing in the legacy system vs. building a new one, SDR chose the path of innovation.
With leadership and front-line teams aligned around a clear product roadmap, we advanced multiple feature sets in parallel — adapting quickly to business and regulatory feedback as the digital product evolved.
Solution: client side.
The resulting solution provided SDR with a comprehensive ecosystem of five interconnected applications, each meticulously crafted to deliver an exceptional user experience that makes complex financial and healthcare decisions feel effortless.
App one: user enrollment.
Where the SDR journey begins. The intuitive design guides users through onboarding in minutes—not hours—with clarity and confidence. Every screen was optimized based on extensive A/B testing, ensuring maximum conversion and user trust.
Client-side app suite.
From member self-service to employer partnerships, each touchpoint of the SDR digital ecosystem is purpose-built yet unified by consistent design principles and seamless user experiences across devices.
The heart of the SDR experience, where members efficiently manage needs, handle invoicing and monthly electronic billing, upload and download documents, update banking and payment information, access educational content, and receive 24/7 online support. Built as a responsive PWA, members enjoy seamless access whether at home or on the go.
Opening new B2B2C opportunities, this dedicated portal enables employers to manage SDR services for their employees, handle group enrollments, track usage, and access specialized reporting, turning employers into powerful distribution partners. The professional yet approachable design speaks to enterprise clients while remaining accessible to HR teams of all sizes.
A dynamic, content-managed gateway that adapts to different audiences, campaigns, and partnership channels. Integrated with Contentful, marketing teams can update messaging without developer involvement. Built on our custom design system, it maintains brand consistency while allowing for creative flexibility.
A highly-featured command center enabling SDR staff to manage and impersonate customers, create flows, connect with affiliates, and resolve blockers and dependencies. This powerful backend interface transformed administrative efficiency. Despite its complexity, the portal maintains visual clarity through thoughtful information architecture and a cohesive design language.
Turn complex healthcare journeys into simple wins.
Five interconnected apps. Thousands of daily interactions. One goal: make every user feel confident and cared for. This approach transformed SDR's retention and can do the same for your healthtech platform.
Solution: server side.
The invisible, often underestimated backbone of every fintech product lies in the server side.
While the client interface captures attention, the real magic happens behind the scenes—where transactions are processed, business logic runs, and integrations with banks take place.
In other words, we had to engineer a system that delivers sub-second response times for financial transactions while maintaining bank-grade security across all touch-points, effectively setting a new standard in healthcare fintech.
Solution architecture.
At its core, event-driven architecture combines 5 client-side React-based PWA with 15 shared microservices—covering everything from user authentication and payment processing to compliance monitoring and system health—all built using cutting-edge technologies on Microsoft Azure's cloud infrastructure.
Given the critical nature of financial data and healthcare information, security became our paramount concern throughout development. We implemented comprehensive security measures that include end-to-end encryption for all financial transactions, multi-factor authentication for member accounts, and role-based access controls for administrators.
To ensure uninterrupted operations across multiple cloud environments, we implemented an automated production support framework that connects monitoring, alerting, and incident management in one streamlined flow.
Real-time error tracking and user behavior analytics across all five PWAs using Sentry for error reporting and Hotjar for user session recording, capturing frontend issues and user interactions to continuously improve the application experience.
Comprehensive monitoring of all 15 microservices using Azure App Insights and Sumo Logic, tracking performance metrics, API response times, resource utilization, and system health across the entire Azure infrastructure.
End-to-end monitoring of financial transactions and 3rd-party integrations using Azure App Insights and custom event tracking to ensure data consistency, compliance, and seamless operation across all services.
Design.
Design excellence through data.
To ensure our design decisions were grounded in user reality, we implemented comprehensive analytics and testing.
This data-driven approach to UX design meant we knew exactly what users wanted and how they interacted with each application, allowing us to refine experiences continuously.
Unified design system.
Recognizing that consistency breeds trust, we created a comprehensive design system for SDR's digital ecosystem:
This shared design system became the foundation for SDR's brand identity in the digital space, ensuring that whether a user was enrolling, managing their account, or accessing employer tools, they experienced a cohesive, beautiful interface that reinforced trust and professionalism.
Legacy.
Together with SDR, we navigated aggressive regulatory changes and delivered a seamless replatforming—on time and without disruption. The new platform enables secure, transparent peer-to-peer cost sharing with separate, member-owned accounts while preserving real-time efficiency. The result is an exceptional UX that drives tremendous engagement and retention across web and mobile.
Today, SDR stands as the trusted, compliant leader—flexible enough to win new members and meet future change with confidence. We’re proud to be part of this transformative innovation that improves health well-being at scale. We’re proud to help families who rely on SDR feel confident hat their health and finances remain secure.
The transformation went beyond compliance. They helped us reimagine what medical cost-sharing could be. We're not just meeting regulations—we're setting the standard for our entire industry.
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