A medical treatment is a therapeutic relationship between patients and doctors.
In the past decades, there has been an addition of another important overseer-cum-facilitator-cum-catalyst to this dynamic: Technology.
There has been an unshakable need for hospitals to take their services online and hospitals have been getting their own websites.
In this blog, let’s explore Medical Website Development in detail..!
Features of a Medical Website:
A medical website is not your regular website and it deals with some of the most complex information.
It is, therefore, essential that the website has systems in place to ensure data security and confidentiality of the patients.
Let’s look at some of the prerequisites in this article.
1.HIPAA Compliance
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is a Federal Law passed by the American President Bill Clinton in August, 1996.
This was a measure by the US legislation to ensure that more people gained access to medical insurance and did not lose their coverage even if they had to face unemployment.
HIPAA also aimed to reduce the abuse of patient data by stringent laws in place. It allows privacy rights to patients and certain regulations for the “covered entities”.
“Covered entities” could refer to the healthcare provider and the Insurance companies.
The HIPAA contains five reforms or titles that can be summarized as:
- Individuals retain their privilege to health insurance coverage even if they lose their jobs
- Divulgence of Protected Health Information (PHI) by covered entities is prohibited, and healthcare organizations must provide secure electronic access to data on request by the patients
- Tax provisions were revised under a federal umbrella
- HIPAA included provisions for individuals with group health plans
- Provisions for individuals who lose their citizenship.
Of these, Title II ensures that the data is protected by encryption with a code. The covered entities and their employees are mandated to handle data virtuously.
A medical website is a covered entity and therefore needs to be HIPAA compliant.
2.Telemedicine Integration
- Telemedicine has become routine for patients in several areas where a doctor is not accessible due to geographical constraints.
- Integrating a video conferencing software and connecting clinicians and patients without barriers is crucial for a medical website; not just to reach out to people in hamlets, but also treat people who opt for the same, even though they live in the same region.
- It has been observed to be more efficient than administrating medicines or treatments in person as the longer queues are eliminated and patients require lesser time with the doctor.
3.Responsive Design
- The website needs to have a responsive interface, i.e. all that needs to move on the screen, moves in real-time.
- All icons must be functional and buttons need to rapidly map to the appropriate screens.
- Care must be taken to ensure that the icons, links and platforms for document uploads are operable.
4.Appointment Booking System
Appointment booking is a prerequisite for a medical website.
An appointment booking system has the following features :
1. An intuitive calendar interface
2. Visible slot timings and availability
3. Real-time notifications enabled
4. Canceling.
The appointment system can ensure that the rooms are well managed and not too crowded, freeing up space and time to focus on the patients.
5.Patient Portal
- A patient portal is the interface that the patient uses.
- The patient portal needs to provide access to Electronic Health Records, Billing, and Appointment Scheduling primarily.
- The patient is able to access the healthcare provider for hassle-free follow-ups and medicine refilling.
- To integrate patient portals and telemedicine features, choosing the right web development framework is a prerequisite. This helps to create a scalable and safe medical website.
6.User-Friendly Navigation
- Put simply, navigation is how the users get around the website to search, collate, create or enter information.
- An effective navigation system indicates where the user is on the page clearly.
- User-friendliness indicates that the website is easier to navigate, essentially that the user does as little as possible to get the best outcome.
- If user-friendliness is kept in mind, not only is the website hassle-free, but also reaches a wider audience.
Key Pages in a Medical Website:
1.Home Page
- The home page is an opportunity for the Healthcare providers to showcase themselves to their users.
- Besides that, it provides the most important functionalities of the website, such as : appointment scheduling, services offered, and contact details.
- The home page needs to be designed with the users in mind.
- A well-designed home page for a medical website is simple and elegant.
2.About Us Page
- An About Us page of a medical website highlights the journey of the healthcare organization.
- The key goal of the page is to have the users know all about the hospital.
- The about us page needs to be written in such a manner that it invokes trust in the patients.
- It is also a space for the hospital to share information on their specialization and share stories of success.
3.Services Page
- The services page of the hospital website is the page that answers : what can the hospital do for you?
- This page highlights the various departments that the hospital houses and it is essentially the touchpoint of communication between the patient and the hospital.
4.Patient Resources Page
- The patient resources page is an educational and informative section of the website.
- The resources page has healthcare guidelines, preventative care and information on how caregivers can provide care to the patients.
- It acts as the first point of care for sufferers and is an opportunity for thought leaders in the field of healthcare to connect with those in need.
5.Contact Us Page
- Usually merged with the home page, the contact page has all the important contact information of the hospital such as address and phone numbers for enquiry.
- There is also an interactive type of contact page where patients can leave their contact information and someone at the hospital’s end will contact them.
Role of Security in Medical Websites:
Security is perhaps the most crucial in a Medical Website.
Healthcare data needs to be protected at all costs, as divulging PHI may cause severe repercussions on the organization.
Key reasons why security is important includes:
- Safeguarding Protected Health Information: As the term PHI implies, patient data must not be disclosed. Healthcare data consists of sensitive information such as identity revealing information, medical histories, recent diagnoses, etc. Security is necessary to prevent threat and disclosure of data.
- Compliance and Regulations : HIPAA and GDPR are two laws that govern healthcare data in the west. These laws mandate that healthcare providers ensure stringent security controls are followed when dealing with patient data
- Safeguarding Reputation and Maintaining Trust : The reputation of a healthcare organization depends on the careful handling of data. Security breaches point to a hospital’s flippancy with data. Patients lose trust if the hospital is unable to maintain confidentiality.
- Protecting Financial Information and Avoiding Losses: A hospital’s reputation is necessary for avoiding financial losses. If hackers get hold of patient information, such as insurance details, may cause patients and hospitals to incur losses.
Importance of SEO for Medical Websites:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a subset of marketing, and it helps in building businesses, however, it also helps the right content find the right audience.
- By optimizing top quality content for SEO, medical websites are able to garner audience and leads and convert them to business, organically.
- Limited Online Visibility and Patient Engagement are the common healthcare marketing challenges. These can be overcome with developing a medical website with effective SEO but also by focusing on healthcare branding to build trust and engagement.
- A Medical Website cannot be considered successful without HIPAA Compliant SEO Practices. These practices ensures privacy and compliance with industry standards.
Steps involved in Medical Website Development:
A successful medical website blends both the technical expertise of web development and creativity of web design.
So when developing a medical website, knowing the difference between web design and web development is crucial.
Both plays unique roles in promising functionality and aesthetic appeal.
Here is the step by step development of a Medical Website:
Step 1: Phase of Discovery
- In this phase, understand the demographics and preferences of the patient.
- Identify the critical features like patient portals or telemedicine tools.
Step 2: Design and Development
- This phase involves working with a team experienced in UX/UI design and healthcare compliance.
- Create a scalable and secure backend with custom frameworks or reliable CMS platforms like WordPress.
Step 3: Evaluation of Testing and Compliance
- Check the responsiveness, loading speeds and form submission functionalities of the website.
- Perform a comprehensive compliance audit for ADA and HIPAA standards.
Step 4: Launch and Maintenance
- Deploy the website with reliable hosting and SSL certificate.
- To keep your content, plugins and software secure and up to date, schedule regular upgrades.
Medical Website Development: Best Practices
Some of the must not be neglected points for Mobile Website development are:
- Mobile and User-friendliness must be ensured
- Must be security and privacy laws compliant
- Must have an intuitive design
- Must have seamless integration with communication tools
- Consistent branding
- Accessibility must be ensured
Medical Website Development: Difficulties
- Maintaining confidentiality
- Ensuring mobile-friendliness
- Generating high quality medical content
- HIPAA and GDPR compliance
Conclusion
A medical website is a must-have for a healthcare company.
It is important to ensure that all the security and privacy are in place while creating a medical website.
A well-optimized medical website is a powerful tool for attracting patients. It also plays a key role in improving the market share in healthcare.
