WellSpan optimizes online user experiences with Sitecore

In today's healthcare landscape, delivering personalized experiences online is just as important as in physical care spaces. WellSpan Health (WellSpan) is a nonprofit health system with 11 hospitals, 250+ patient care locations, and 2,500 employed providers in Pennsylvania. The organization is strategically focused on treating each individual not as a number, but with care that is truly one-size-fits-one.

WellSpan’s website plays a vital role in helping patients access care. To deliver tailored experiences while adhering to privacy and data regulations, a new digital foundation was needed. The legacy open-source content management system was outdated, lacked modern frameworks, and couldn’t support current DevOps practices. Patients often had to interact with up to 10 or more disconnected tools while visiting the website due to poor system integration, which resulted in fragmented experiences. Data wasn’t shared, systems weren’t integrated, and WellSpan couldn’t present itself as a cohesive organization.

WellSpan built its redesigned website, wellspan.org, on a best-of-breed headless architecture using Sitecore XM as their headless CMS solution, taking advantage of the headless solution and decoupled architecture, and Sitecore Personalize as part of their tech stack. The website leverages React and Next.js for modern web development, enabling team members to work with cutting-edge backend systems and the organization has also adopted efficient DevOps processes.

Key integrations include the MyChart patient portal and electronic health records (EHR) system connected with Prove identity software for secure and reliable identity verification. This streamlines account creation by eliminating tedious data entry, enabling quick, secure access while adhering to HIPAA regulations and ensuring data privacy.

The site provides a fully personalized experience once a user logs in, displaying appointments, test results, messages, and bills pulled from the patient portal. Integrated content adjusts to user profiles, offering relevant information through rule-based personalization and collaborative filtering. Robust taxonomy and tagging enable personalized recommendations and allow users to save favorite articles, events, doctors, and locations.

Following the success of the public-facing site, WellSpan is updating its intranet digital experience platform (DXP) to meet the needs of nurses, clinical, support, and custodial staff for enhanced front-end experiences.

With Sitecore at the core of WellSpan’s digital platform, the organization has seamlessly integrated its public website and patient portal, creating a cohesive patient experience aacross touchpoints. Streamlined account verification and creation processes have driven a 20% increase in new accounts within the first two months after launch, exceeding expectations.

Internally, new technologies and agile processes have enhanced efficiency, enabling faster integration rollouts. The development team now operates on a two-week sprint cycle with a rigorous quality assurance process. Standardized templates and workflows in Sitecore have also simplified content management and content delivery, enabling communications and marketing teams to update pages independently, freeing the web team to iterate on and enhance the patient experience.

While WellSpan has established a robust headless approach, it’s just at the beginning of its journey. Future plans include advancing personalization use cases, for example personalized provider search based on preferences and previous choices, and individualized, automated recommendations. WellSpan is also planning to utilize source content in Sitecore for additional outputs, such as digital signage across clinical sites.