Healthcare Website Development: What Your Agency Needs to Know

Healthcare clients, whether hospitals, clinics, or private practices, require a very different approach to web development than typical local businesses. These websites have their own set of rules, expectations, and technical needs that you’ll want to understand before you start.

At WLA, we partner with 600+ agencies producing 3,000+ websites annually, and healthcare is one of the verticals we’ve worked on. Over the years, we’ve figured out what works and what doesn’t when it comes to medical website development. We wanted to share some of the lessons we’ve learned along the way.

How Healthcare Websites Differ From Other Sites

Healthcare web design isn’t harder than other types of projects, but it does require a different approach. When someone visits a restaurant website, they’re looking for a menu and hours. When someone lands on a medical website, they might be scared, confused, or in pain. They need clear information fast, and they need to feel like they can trust the people behind the site.

There’s also the technical side to consider. Healthcare has stricter rules around data privacy than most industries. If your client wants to collect patient information through forms or offer appointment booking, you’ll need to think about security from day one. And if they’re part of a larger healthcare system, they might need the site to connect with electronic health records or insurance verification systems.

Planning Your Medical Website Design and Development

The first step in any healthcare website project is figuring out what the site actually needs to do. This sounds obvious, but medical practices often have needs they don’t think to mention upfront.

Start by asking your client about their patient journey. How do people currently find them? Do patients need to book appointments online, or do they prefer calling? What questions do staff answer most often? The answers will shape everything from your site structure to which plugins you’ll need.

Healthcare Site Structure 

Healthcare websites tend to have more content than your typical small business site. A medical practice might offer 15 different services, have 8 doctors on staff, accept 20 insurance plans, and want to publish regular health articles. All of that needs to fit together in a way that doesn’t overwhelm visitors.

Your sitemap for a medical website design typically includes:

• Homepage with clear calls to action
• About section covering the practice history and approach to care
• Provider bios with credentials and photos
• Detailed service pages for each treatment or specialty
• Patient resources like forms, FAQs, and pre-visit instructions
• Insurance and billing information
• Blog or health library
• Contact page with location, hours, and appointment options

The key is organizing this so patients can find what they need in two or three clicks. Use clear labels in your navigation and avoid medical jargon where possible.

WordPress Works Well for Medical Website Development

WordPress is a smart choice for healthcare clients. Medical practices often want to update content themselves, whether that’s adding a new doctor, changing office hours, or publishing health tips. WordPress gives them that control without needing to call you every time.

The WordPress ecosystem also has plugins built specifically for medical practices. You’ll find tools for appointment scheduling, patient forms, HIPAA-compliant contact forms, and even telemedicine integration. This means you’re not building everything from scratch.

Choosing the Right Theme

There are WordPress themes designed specifically for healthcare, but you don’t necessarily need one. What matters more is finding a theme that supports the layout and features your client needs.

Look for themes that include:

• Clean, professional design that builds trust
• Easy-to-read typography (remember, some patients may have vision issues)
• Built-in appointment or contact forms
• Service showcase sections
• Team member profiles
• Blog functionality

Feature	Why It Matters for Healthcare
Mobile responsive	60% of healthcare searches happen on phones
Fast loading	Patients won’t wait for slow sites
Accessibility features	Required by law in many cases
Form builders	For appointment requests and patient intake
Schema markup support	Helps with local search rankings

Essential Plugins for Healthcare Sites

The right plugins can turn a basic WordPress site into a functional patient portal. Here are the categories you’ll want to cover:

Appointment scheduling: Tools like Amelia or Bookly let patients book visits online. This saves front desk staff hours of phone time.

HIPAA-compliant forms: Regular contact forms aren’t secure enough for health information. Plugins like Gravity Forms with encryption add-ons or WPForms with HIPAA compliance ensure patient data stays protected.

Live chat or chatbots: Many practices want to answer simple questions without tying up staff. Chat tools can handle FAQs about hours, location, and services.

Patient portals: If your client needs patients to access test results or medical records, you’ll need a secure portal solution. These often integrate with practice management software.

Healthcare Websites Need to Build Trust

The healthcare site needs to look professional enough that people trust it with their health. At the same time, it shouldn’t be too “clinical”, so that it doesn’t feel cold or intimidating. Start with color theory. Blues and greens tend to work well because they feel calm and trustworthy. Avoid aggressive reds or overly bright colors that might make people anxious. Use plenty of white space so the design doesn’t feel cluttered.

Photography matters more in healthcare than almost any other industry. Real photos of the actual doctors, staff, and office space build trust in a way stock photos never will. If your client can’t afford a professional photographer, even decent smartphone photos of real people beat generic medical stock imagery.

Finally, healthcare websites need to be accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. This isn’t just good practice, it’s often required by law under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Make sure your healthcare website includes:

• Alt text for all images
• Proper heading hierarchy (H1, H2, H3) for screen readers
• Sufficient color contrast for text
• Keyboard navigation support
• Captions or transcripts for videos
• Forms that work with assistive technology

WordPress has built-in accessibility features, but you’ll want to test your site with tools like WAVE or Lighthouse to catch any issues.

Technical Requirements for Medical Sites

Security and compliance are where healthcare website development gets more complex than your average project. If the site collects any patient information, you need to think about HIPAA compliance.

Understanding HIPAA for Websites

HIPAA is the law that protects patient health information in the United States. Not every medical website needs to be HIPAA compliant. If the site is purely informational (just listing services, hours, and general health tips), HIPAA usually doesn’t apply. But the moment you collect any personal health information through forms, you’re in HIPAA territory.

“HIPAA can sound scary, but it’s really about protecting patient data,” explains Elie, our Account Manager at WLA. “At WLA, we handle the WordPress side of things, but patient data storage needs to happen through a third-party provider. We’ll build the forms and integrate them based on your compliance partner’s specifications, but the actual data hosting should be set up separately with a HIPAA-compliant service.”

HIPAA-compliant hosting means:

• SSL certificates (that’s the https in the URL)
• Encrypted data storage
• Regular security updates
• Backup systems
• Business Associate Agreements with any vendors who might access patient data

Most standard hosting plans don’t meet HIPAA requirements for patient data storage. The good news is that only the actual patient information needs special hosting. The website itself can sit on regular WordPress hosting like Pressable or WP-Engine. The patient data gets stored separately through HIPAA-compliant third-party services, which then integrate with your WordPress site through forms or patient portals.

Integrations With Medical Software

Many healthcare clients use practice management software or electronic health record systems. They might want their website to connect with these tools for appointment scheduling, patient portals, or insurance verification. These integrations can get technical quickly. Some medical software offers WordPress plugins or APIs that make connections easier. Others require custom development work. It’s worth finding out early in the project what systems your client uses and whether integration is expected.

Healthcare Website Content: 3 Tips

Medical website content needs to do two things: provide useful information and build credibility. Patients want to know if you can help them, and they want to feel confident about choosing you. Each service page should explain what the treatment is, who it’s for, what to expect, and how to prepare. Write in plain language. Instead of “We provide comprehensive cardiovascular diagnostic services,” say “We check your heart health and help catch problems early.”

From our experience, we have also noticed how much doctor and staff bios matter. Patients want to know who they’ll be seeing. We recommend including education, specialties, and a bit of personality. A sentence about hobbies or why they chose medicine makes doctors seem more human.

The blog or health library is also where you can really add value. Articles about common conditions, treatment options, and preventive care help with SEO and position your client as a helpful resource. Just make sure any medical advice includes disclaimers and encourages readers to consult their doctor.

How Digital Marketing Agencies Can Take on More Healthcare Clients

Healthcare website development takes more time than basic projects because of the planning, security needs, and often more content. For many agencies, taking on these projects means either hiring developers with healthcare experience or turning down the work.

There’s a middle option: partnering with developers who already know the healthcare space. At WLA, we handle the technical side of WordPress website design and development while agencies maintain the client relationship. You gather requirements, we build the site to your specifications, and it’s delivered under your brand.

This approach works well for agencies that want to serve healthcare clients without building in-house expertise in HIPAA compliance, medical plugins, or patient portal integrations. You can take on more healthcare projects without the overhead.

Final Words

The most important thing you can do at the start of a healthcare web design project is ask the right questions. Find out what patient information the site will collect. Ask about integrations with existing systems. Understand whether the practice wants online booking, patient portals, or telemedicine capabilities.

From there, map out the site structure, choose WordPress as your foundation, and select plugins that meet the security requirements. Keep the design clean and trustworthy, write content in plain language, and test everything for accessibility.

If your agency frequently services healthcare clients, or you want to enter this industry vertical, consider partnering with White Label Agency. We can be your back-office for technical work, acting as an invisible partner. Our scalable services will let you take on more clients without being locked into long-term contracts. Contact us today to learn more about our services.