Website designHealthcare content2 min read Is your website patient centric?

In a competition-driven healthcare market, your website must be a valued resource for your healthcare consumer, who has higher expectations today than ever before. That means taking a patient-centric approach that focuses on patients at all stages of their care.

Today’s healthcare consumers are digitally savvy and, for them, the internet has become an essential part of making health decisions. So your website should provide the education and support patients need to make informed decisions and participate in their own care.

Here are 6 ways you can make sure your website is patient-centric:

• Create engaging physician profiles. Your consumer wants to know what services you offer and which providers offer what they need. Expertise matters, but people also want caring providers they can relate to and trust. Take some time to rethink your physician directory and review it from a consumer’s perspective. Does the navigation make sense? Do the profiles include physician bios? Does the content provide enough information to make a decision?
• Create compelling content with empathy. Some of the most compelling content is about people. Whether it’s a vulnerable look at a provider or an account from a patient, personal stories can reach your audience in unique ways and help you connect with new patients.
• Connect with empathy, compassion and understanding. Your words matter. Create content that is compassionate and inclusive. Put people first, not conditions. Avoid language with negative undertones. When you tap into the power of empathy, you connect more directly with your patients.
• Integrate service content with relevant articles and links. Defining risk factors, symptoms and causes of a condition is not enough. How does your hospital treat the condition? What can patients expect? And why should a consumer choose your hospital for the service? Utilize contextually relevant content such as clinical trials, news articles, patient testimonials and physician links to give the consumer everything they need on one page.
• Make patient experience a priority. Think of your website as a way to improve patient experience. What will make it easier for a patient to make an appointment, pay a bill, request a refill or engage with their healthcare provider? Utilize web forms, online appointment requests, chats, online bill pay, automated refill prescriptions and other tools that improve the patient experience.
• Update content frequently. The quickest way to lose a prospective patient is with an incorrect phone number. Important details that enable consumers to get in touch with you, like your address, hours, locations and phone numbers, should be reviewed frequently. Make sure to revisit your content regularly and update important details immediately. And don’t forget about new content. Consumers who are looking for ways to achieve better health can find you through your blogs, newsletters and other content about fitness, food and well-being. Your content could eventually convert these consumers to patients.

Finally, ask yourself these questions. Is your website:

• Responsive and fast?
• SEO optimized?
• Always accessible with a phone number or other means of communication available on every page?
• Designed and written from the perspective of a patient journey?
• Reflective of the quality of your organization and services?

If not, you may want to rethink your content and design.

We can help. Creating content that inspires and motivates is what we do at Coffey—and we've been doing that work for more than 30 years. Our content creation team would love to learn more about your organization and your goals. Contact us, and let's start a conversation.