Building a website or doing custom development in the healthcare industry isn’t a task to take lightly. Patients expect perfection when it comes to data security and privacy, so it’s crucial that you establish trust with end users. This is easier said than done, and creating a trustworthy presence requires hard work. You not only need to prove that patient data is safe and secure, but you also have to deliver on your word, including implied promises.
Whether you’re developing a website for your own healthcare facility, or you’re a web designer designing for a healthcare client, here are the most important factors to consider throughout the process.
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Consider how the site will be used
Healthcare is a broad industry, and there are many ways people might use a healthcare website. Here are just some of the most common use cases:
- Patient access to records. Will the website need to provide patients with access to their medical records, prescriptions, test results, and scheduled visits?
- Resources. Does the website need to have a self-help area for patients to find simple solutions to non-emergencies, like over-the-counter recommendations for colds, or helpful information about certain medical conditions, treatments, various procedures, and medications?
- A staff directory. Does the healthcare company need a staff directory so people can see who works there along with direct contact information?
- Interactive options. Do you need to enable telehealth visits for virtual visits through video calls?
- Online billing. Are you required to add online billing services to the site that integrates with insurance information and allows patients to see their payment history?
- Doctor-patient communication. Do you need to provide a way for patients to contact their doctors through an internal email system?
If the company you’re working with doesn’t tell you they need any of the above features, ask them specifically, because the person you’re consulting with might assume some of these features are standard for all healthcare websites. If they’ve never managed a website build before, they won’t know that nothing will be automatic and they need to discuss all the specifications with you ahead of time.
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Prioritize accessibility for disabled users
Accessibility isn’t just a nice feature – it’s a legal requirement. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that every public business with a physical location, and every government website be accessible to people with disabilities. Inaccessible sites make it hard or impossible for people with disabilities to navigate the contents, and that isn’t acceptable for a healthcare website.
People need to be able to use tools like screen readers and voice recognition to navigate a website, and that requires websites to be built in a specific manner. There are guidelines for how to make a website accessible, but some things aren’t black and white. If you don’t have experience building accessible websites, it’s best to consult with someone who does.
You could face consequences for building an inaccessible site. Although the healthcare business would be sued by affected patients, they could turn around and sue you for not meeting basic legal requirements when you built their site. Companies get sued all the time for inaccessible websites. Not too long ago, a blind man sued Domino’s Pizza because he couldn’t order a pizza online using a screen reader. He won the case and Dominos had to compensate him by investing a lot of money into rebuilding their site to be more accessible.
No matter what your client says, prioritize accessibility. Factor it into all of the decisions you make and conversations you have with your client about what you can and cannot do for them. For example, if they request a feature that would make their website inaccessible, and they are required to have an accessible site, explain why that won’t work. Never skip accessibility requirements because you could be held legally and financially responsible.
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Consider security and data privacy laws
Cybersecurity requires extensive attention when building a healthcare website. Medical records and patient data are subject to The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. Under this law, there are serious penalties for disclosing sensitive patient information without their express written consent. Unfortunately, cyberattacks, like data breaches and data leaks, can expose protected health information (PHI), which is a violation of this law.
There are countless ways hackers can get into a website and steal data, and while you need to take data security seriously, there’s only so much you can do to prevent data from being stolen. It happens even to websites that are properly secured. Hackers are constantly finding new vulnerabilities in software and getting into poorly secured servers at the root, and there’s a chance getting hacked may be outside of your control. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t protect the data.
To keep data secure, you need to encrypt it end-to-end so that it can’t be read if it gets stolen. Encrypted data is worthless to hackers, and using end-to-end encryption is the only way to get out of legal consequences if the site you build falls victim to a data breach. Again, the healthcare client will likely be sued first, but they can also sue you for building them a poorly secured site, so don’t skip encryption. It’s literally the only way to keep data truly secure.
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Does your client need a patient portal?
One of the most common features a healthcare website needs is a client portal where patients can log into their account and access their medical records, scheduled and past visits, prescriptions, payment history, and more. This will require you to work with a software developer to create a portal integration that seamlessly blends into the website so that it feels like a natural part of the overall user experience.
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Will your client offer telehealth services?
Telehealth services became popular during the COVID-19 pandemic, and have remained a reliable way for patients to get faster access to healthcare in non-emergency situations. If the business you’re designing a website for needs telehealth services, there are several things to note.
Since you’re required to abide by all federal, state, and local data privacy regulations and laws, your telehealth services system needs to comply with all of those laws. This means you can’t just install any video conferencing system. In fact, for this one, you shouldn’t try to create it from scratch because it’s going to be too difficult to meet all the legal requirements. Instead, suggest an existing compliant video conferencing platform, like Zoom for Healthcare, GoTo, or GoogleMeet.
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Billing and payments
Most likely, your client will want to accept payments through their website, and that’s typical. Expect to be asked to build out a payment system that will accept all major credit cards and possibly even PayPal, Apple Pay, or other online payment methods.
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Does your client want patients to communicate with doctors?
In addition to building out a patient portal, you might be tasked with creating a system for patients and doctors to communicate. This feature is becoming popular, and it’s a nice addition to have on a healthcare website. Sometimes people just need to ask their doctor a quick question and don’t want to schedule a visit.
If you are asked to create this type of feature, you’ll need to keep several security factors in mind. For example, you can’t allow patients to communicate regarding their medical information via text or email because that would violate data privacy laws. Although you’ll need to talk to a lawyer to be certain, the law probably excludes allowing patients to receive links to their account with two-factor authentication verification texts. You can send codes, but never allow any private information to be sent in a text message, not even the patient’s name, nickname, or account ID.
All communication between patients and doctors needs to take place within an enclosed environment that is secured and within your full control in terms of security. If you aren’t sure how to create this feature, the best solution is to partner with a professional software developer.
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Make sure your support options are easy
The patients who visit the site you build will need an easy way to contact the organization, so make sure the contact forms are easy, accessible, and functional. This should go without saying, but sometimes what seems like a simple contact process can be complicated.
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Prioritize the user experience and interface
Good user experience (UX/UI) on a healthcare website is critical. Patients visit healthcare sites for all kinds of reasons and will expect the experience to be smooth and easy. Sometimes users will be looking for a new doctor, and other times they’ll be researching general health advice. However, most of the people who will use your client’s site will be existing patients who want to log into their patient portal or make an appointment online.
It’s crucial to design your client’s website with their end users in mind. All of the usual design principles apply to healthcare patients, but you may need to take ease of use a little further than normal. For instance, there will be more older people and people who are visually impaired, but aren’t using a screen reader. This means you’ll need to make the text large enough for users on a desktop computer, choose neutral, yet visible color schemes, and simplify the design so people can find what they’re looking for fast. Healthcare websites don’t need any fluff.
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Partner with an SEO company to sell a full package
As a website developer, you can only do so much search engine optimization (SEO) work on your clients’ websites. Even if you were also an SEO expert, you likely wouldn’t have the time because SEO takes a team, and isn’t easy for one person to implement. You would have to give up your day job as a developer to work on your clients’ SEO full-time.
A great solution that would work for you and your clients is to sell a full package that includes SEO, and partner with an SEO agency ahead of time and include their services in the package you sell to your healthcare client. You’ll need to manage the project and the SEO company’s work, but it’s worth it for the extra profit and it will make your client happy.
If you don’t want to partner with an SEO company, at the very least, get your client’s site set with basic SEO and then recommend that they work with a professional SEO firm on their own.
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Don’t get in over your head
The final consideration is to make sure you don’t get in over your head with developing a website for a healthcare organization. The healthcare industry is governed by strict regulations that make it challenging to create a site that is fully compliant. Handing over a non-compliant website to a client is too great of a risk.
One solution is to outsource the development to a professional company with experience building compliant websites in the healthcare industry. That happens to be one of our specialties!
Need a healthcare website? We’d love to build it for you
At Web.Dev.co, our team of expert website developers have extensive experience building websites for healthcare organizations while maintaining tight cybersecurity and compliance with applicable data privacy laws. We can build a healthcare website that meets all of your needs for just one client or all of your clients, if you prefer. Many developers are starting to use white label website design services to save time and money, and that’s something you may want to consider.
If you need to build a healthcare website and you’re not sure how to make it compliant, or if you’d rather have it all built by a team of professionals, reach out and let us know what you need. We’d love to help!
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