Medical Web Design | How to Market your Practice and Stay Compliant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Crucial Dos and Don’ts of Medical Web Design

Your practice needs a steady flow of patients, or you need to get vital life saving information out to the public. All types of businesses rely on well designed websites to drive traffic and new interested clients their way, but as a healthcare institution, you can’t take as many creative liberties as other companies.

The healthcare world is an industry with strict rules and regulations. When you hire a team for medical web design, you need to make sure that your web design company is aware of these regulations, and you need to know that they’re able to do the research before putting out any content that puts you in violation.

Whether you are running a hospital, are a medical practitioner, or a drug company giving basic healthcare information, you have to adhere to the rules on how to properly spread awareness to the public. We have several clients in the healthcare industry, and we have learned quite a few important ways that designing a website for healthcare is a job like no other. Keep reading for some key highlights, “dos” and “don’ts” for medical web design.

Choose HIPAA Compliant Hosting

HIPAA is a federal law that protects sensitive patient information from being shared without patient consent. This is included in some of the most important rules for healthcare providers, like the Privacy and Security Rules. The Privacy Rule defines what information is protected, who is covered, and their responsibilities regarding healthcare information.

Typical web hosting solutions do not have the ability to properly protect and secure PHI and ePHI health data. They simply lack the infrastructure and safeguards needed to uphold the rules and regulations regarding the transmission, processing, and storage of protected health information. Choose a medical web design agency that is familiar with HIPAA compliant hosting to keep your patients information safe.

Use A Conversational Tone of Voice

You have a wealth of knowledge backed by research that helps you give your clients the best care. But through the vastness of the world wide web, you have to talk about your services in a way your patients will understand.

A good medical website should highlight the skills, expertise, and experience of the medical practitioner and it should not mislead the patient with any false information, promise, or commitment. Chasing a high quantity of early leads could lead to online blacklisting if not approached the right way.

Be mindful of the terminology included in your web copy. Focus on your qualifications and the impact you have on your patients lives and your community. Your services should feel accessible, and then you’ll be positioned to be an expert on what you do with compassion for your patients. Make sure if you work with a content writer, that they are able to work around these constraints.

Marketing Ethics When Discussing Medications or Procedures

Most businesses can discuss services they offer and set up a portfolio to show their work, but in healthcare, you have to be able to explain what you offer in the right language.

Medical websites typically have a large amount of content such as various medical procedures, commonly prescribed medicines, healthcare awareness, or general medical advice. Make sure that the information on the website is properly indexed, easy to navigate, self-explanatory, and offers the ability to directly search for whatever information they need.

If part of what your practice offers includes information about any drug, its trademark name cannot be used on your website. Create content about its properties, effects, and side effects of the drug rather than promoting certain brands. Providing useful and helpful information to the reader is the best marketing strategy, no matter what industry you’re in.

Ready to Work with an Agency that Knows Medical Web Design?

ADVAN Design has experience designing websites for dentists, Community Health Centers, Assisted Living Centers and many other healthcare professionals who need to generate leads to attract new patients but have a lot on the line if they aren’t compliant.

ADVAN believes in taking time to do our proper research to not only help you get more traffic, but keep your practice up to standards.  Contact us when you’re ready to delegate your medical web design tasks, put more time into your practice, and see results.

Get started with ADVAN today.