Western Health Advantage creates a modern digital front door for its community

For more than 30 years, Western Health Advantage has built its reputation on community-based care, strong provider relationships, and accessible, high-touch service. But as digital expectations increased, WHA found itself constrained by years of organic system growth, with each layer supporting key functions but collectively creating friction.

Content lived across multiple systems; data flowed inconsistently, and marketing teams remained dependent on IT for routine updates. This dynamic slowed responsiveness during pivotal periods like open enrollment, when clarity and speed directly impact member confidence.

WHA set out to create a digital experience that better supports the people who rely on it, including members, employers, brokers, and providers. The goal was to make information easier to find, ensure consistency across channels, and give internal teams the ability to respond quickly when it matters most.

As Rick Heron, Chief Experience Officer and executive champion for the initiative shared during discovery, “We’ve evolved so much as an organization—our digital presence needs to finally reflect who we are today and where we’re headed.”

WHA needed a modern digital foundation that could simplify operations, improve access to information, and support the level of service its community expects.

To simplify its digital landscape, WHA took a step back and rethought both the experience and the way teams worked behind it. The focus was on the journeys that matter most to its community and aligning teams around delivering those experiences consistently.

Using SitecoreAI™’s composable and unified platform, WHA introduced a modular design system and reusable components that brought structure to content and consistency across the site. Teams can now create and manage experiences more efficiently, without relying on fragmented systems or constant IT support.

Since becoming a Sitecore360 customer, WHA has built a strong and consistent partnership with Sitecore Customer Success, adding Personalize and Sitecore Search to deliver more connected, data-driven experiences across its digital channels.

The new site, built on Next.js and deployed on Vercel, now provides a fast, reliable foundation that supports continuous improvement. Content can be updated quickly, new features can be introduced incrementally, and the platform is designed to scale as WHA expands its digital capabilities.

Manny Torres, WHA's website product owner described the approach as “The first time our teams could see the entire experience—not just the technology—but the people and processes that shape it.”

Josh Ramond, who served as Technical Architect at Verndale, sums this up as: “Through strong cross-functional collaboration and the advanced capabilities of SitecoreAI, we delivered an intelligent, scalable, and agile digital platform that enhanced operational efficiency, improved content flexibility, and transformed WHA’s digital presence within the health insurance industry.”

Although the program is multi-year and ongoing, WHA is already seeing meaningful gains. Discovery aligned marketing, IT, and experience leadership around a clear roadmap, creating shared understanding across teams. Design work delivered a unified experience system that balances brand consistency with flexibility.

The MVP launch of the new public site provides WHA with a modern digital front door and eliminates the need for future full rebuilding. Incremental enhancements can now be implemented continuously, empowering teams to move faster, experiment more confidently, and improve the digital journeys its community relies on.

Deploying on Vercel improved performance, reliability, and security across the site. Core Web Vitals saw measurable gains, including a 22% improvement in visual stability and faster load and interaction times. The platform now supports more than 50,000 monthly visitors while maintaining a 96% deployment success rate, enabling teams to release updates quickly and with confidence. Built-in security protections further strengthen resilience, automatically mitigating malicious traffic and DDoS attempts without disrupting availability.

Glenn Hamburg, WHA's Chief Information Officer noted, “What started as a technical challenge has become a transformation in how we operate. We’re finally positioned to move at the pace our members need.”

This is only the beginning. With a foundation built on Sitecore’s AI‑powered, composable technologies, WHA is poised to expand into personalized journeys, connected portals, and deeper analytics that will continue to elevate the member and provider experience.