Healthcare Website Design
Most healthcare websites fail compliance in ways their owners never discover until a breach or lawsuit forces the issue. HIPAA violations carry penalties up to $68,928 per incident. ADA accessibility lawsuits exceeded 4,100 in 2024 alone. And the May 2026 deadline for WCAG 2.1 AA compliance is approaching fast.
As a full-stack web designer and developer who builds HIPAA-aware websites for healthcare providers, I approach these projects differently. No generic "medical blue" templates. No WordPress plugin stacks with security vulnerabilities. Just fast, accessible, compliant websites that reflect your practice's professionalism.The Real Cost of Getting Healthcare Web Design Wrong
Healthcare web design operates at the intersection of multiple regulatory frameworks. A compliant website requires a layered approach addressing data privacy, accessibility, security, and industry-specific regulations simultaneously.
HIPAA Violation Penalties (2025)
| Violation Level | Per Incident | Annual Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Unknowing | $137 - $68,928 | $2,067,813 |
| Reasonable cause | $1,379 - $68,928 | $2,067,813 |
| Willful neglect (corrected) | $13,785 - $68,928 | $2,067,813 |
| Willful neglect (not corrected) | $68,928 | $2,067,813 |
Since 2023, HIPAA enforcement around pixel tracking violations alone has resulted in over $100 million in fines. Google Analytics, without proper configuration, can constitute a violation on pages where patients interact with health-related content.
Accessibility Lawsuit Risk
In May 2024, HHS published a rule requiring healthcare providers receiving federal funds to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards by May 2026. Private practices face litigation risk regardless.
What triggers lawsuits: - Missing alt text on images
- Insufficient color contrast
- Inaccessible forms and date pickers
- Non-keyboard-navigable interfaces
- Auto-playing media without controls
Overlay widgets like accessiBe do not make a website compliant. Courts consistently confirm that true accessibility requires fixing issues in the source code.
What HIPAA-Compliant Web Design Actually Requires
No single tool makes a website "HIPAA compliant." It's a system-level achievement that requires: Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) with every vendor that touches Protected Health Information. Your hosting provider, CMS, email service, form builder, analytics platform, and payment processor all need signed BAAs if they handle PHI.
Encryption at rest and in transit. AES-256 for stored data, TLS 1.2+ for all communications.
Access controls with role-based permissions and multi-factor authentication.
Audit logging that tracks every interaction with PHI.
Breach notification procedures defined and documented.
What Qualifies as PHI?
Protected Health Information includes: - Patient names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers
- Medical records, lab results, treatment history
- Billing and payment records
- IP addresses when combined with health-related page visits
- Appointment scheduling data
- Form submissions containing health information
If your contact form asks about symptoms or insurance, that submission is PHI.
My Philosophy: Keep PHI Off Your Website
Here's my core recommendation for healthcare web design: don't store PHI on your website server at all.
Your marketing website should be exactly that - marketing. A place to showcase your services, build trust, and convert visitors into patients. The moment you try to collect or store Protected Health Information on your web server, you've dramatically increased your compliance burden, security exposure, and liability.
Instead, let purpose-built, HIPAA-compliant third-party platforms handle PHI: - Patient intake forms: Jotform HIPAA, Jane App, SimplePractice, IntakeQ
- Scheduling: Jane App, SimplePractice, Acuity HIPAA
- Client portals: TherapyNotes, SimplePractice, Jane App
- Video visits: Doxy.me, Daily.co with BAA
These platforms have entire teams dedicated to HIPAA compliance, security audits, and breach response. They sign BAAs. They handle encryption, access controls, and audit logging. You get compliant infrastructure without building it yourself.
Your website collects the lead. Their platform handles the PHI.
This architecture means: - No BAA required with your hosting provider (no PHI to protect)
- Simpler security posture (marketing content isn't sensitive)
- Lower compliance costs (no PHI storage = lighter requirements)
- Reduced liability (breach of marketing data ≠ HIPAA violation)
The CMS I build into healthcare sites is for content and marketing only - service descriptions, provider bios, blog posts, location information. Never patient data.
My Approach: SvelteKit for Healthcare
I build healthcare websites on SvelteKit because its architecture directly supports the accessibility, performance, and security requirements healthcare sites demand.
Why This Stack Works for Healthcare
Built-in accessibility enforcement. SvelteKit's compiler warns about accessibility issues during development. Missing alt text, improper heading hierarchy, inaccessible click handlers. The framework catches these before they reach production. This isn't an afterthought plugin; it's core to how Svelte works.
Smaller bundles, faster loads. A typical SvelteKit site ships around 42KB of JavaScript compared to 120KB+ for React-based frameworks. Faster sites perform better for seniors and patients on mobile devices with slower connections. Speed directly impacts both user experience and SEO.
Server-side rendering without hydration delays. No "frozen" page states while JavaScript initializes. Pages are immediately interactive. Critical for accessibility and user experience, especially for visitors using assistive technologies.
No plugin vulnerabilities. Unlike WordPress, there's no stack of third-party plugins creating security exposure. The attack surface is minimal. Every dependency is intentional and auditable.
HIPAA-compliant hosting options. SvelteKit deploys to AWS, GCP, Azure, or specialized healthcare hosting like Healthcare Blocks with proper BAA coverage. Though with the "no PHI on server" approach, standard hosting works fine for marketing sites.
The CMS Question
Traditional headless CMS platforms like Contentful explicitly prohibit PHI in their services. Sanity offers HIPAA compliance only on enterprise plans costing $60,000-80,000 annually.
For healthcare clients, I use either: Self-hosted solutions like Directus or Payload CMS deployed on HIPAA-compliant infrastructure. You control the data, the encryption, and the access.
Custom CMS built into the same codebase as the frontend. No external API calls, no separate vendor agreements, no data leaving your compliant environment.
For marketing-only content that never touches PHI, standard CMS solutions work fine. The key is understanding what data flows where. For more on CMS choices, see my WordPress alternatives guide.Healthcare Website Types I Build
Therapist and Mental Health Practice Websites
Privacy requirements for mental health are stricter than general healthcare. Patients seeking therapy are especially vulnerable to stigma. Your website needs to respect that sensitivity.
Key considerations: - No Google Analytics on any page (I use Plausible or Fathom)
- HIPAA-compliant appointment scheduling (Jane App, SimplePractice)
- Secure contact forms that encrypt submissions
- Design that builds trust without clinical coldness
My work with Korawells wellness clinic demonstrates this approach. We examined every aspect of the site through a HIPAA lens. The contact form uses Jotform's HIPAA-compliant tier with signed BAA. The site runs on Railway for hosting and CMS, but we ensured no part of the website collects or stores PHI. Even form fields have autocomplete disabled to prevent browsers from caching sensitive health information.
The result: a warm, professional design that respects client privacy while effectively communicating services.
Medical Clinic and Practice Websites
For multi-provider clinics, the web presence needs to handle: - Provider directories with individual bio pages
- Service descriptions by specialty
- Patient portal integration (or clear pathways to it)
- Insurance information and new patient workflows
- Location and contact information optimized for local search
The technical requirements scale with the data you handle. A marketing-only site without patient data has lighter compliance needs than one with online intake forms.
Telehealth Platform Websites
Telehealth web design requires integration considerations beyond typical healthcare sites: Video infrastructure choices. Daily.co offers native HIPAA compliance with better developer experience than alternatives. Twilio sunsetted their programmable video platform.
EHR integration patterns. HL7 FHIR standards for data exchange. API-first architecture that connects with Epic, Cerner, or practice management systems.
Remote patient monitoring. Web Bluetooth API for connected devices. Secure data transmission from wearables and home health equipment.
Home Care Agency Websites
Home care clients include seniors and family members making care decisions. The website must be: - Highly accessible (WCAG 2.1 AA minimum)
- Clear about services, coverage areas, and caregiver qualifications
- Easy to contact with minimal form friction
- Mobile-optimized for family members researching on phones
Prime Home Care is an example of this approach: a clean, accessible design that makes it easy for families to understand services and reach out without unnecessary complexity.
Medical and Wellness Consulting
For healthcare consultants and medical advisors, the website often serves as a credibility signal before high-stakes engagements. These sites need to convey authority without the clinical coldness of typical medical websites.
De Becker Code exemplifies this balance: sophisticated motion design and premium positioning that reflects the expertise being offered, while maintaining the trust signals healthcare audiences expect.
Compliance Is a System, Not a Feature
Healthcare website compliance requires intentional architecture across every layer. Each component that touches patient data needs proper agreements, encryption, and access controls. Here's the stack I build with:
Infrastructure Layer
Application hosting: For most healthcare projects, I use Railway for the application layer. Fast deployments, straightforward scaling, and modern developer experience. When PHI storage is required on the server, I deploy to Fly.io with their HIPAA BAA, which provides compliant infrastructure without the complexity of configuring AWS/GCP from scratch.
Database: PostgreSQL on the same platform as the application, encrypted at rest. For projects needing separate database infrastructure, Fly.io's managed Postgres with BAA coverage handles compliance requirements.
CDN and static assets: Cloudflare for performance. Static marketing content doesn't require BAA coverage since no PHI is involved.
Data Collection Layer
Forms: Jotform Gold/Enterprise tier with signed BAA for any form collecting health information. For the Korawells project, this handled contact forms asking about services. All form fields have autocomplete disabled to prevent browser caching of PHI.
Analytics: Plausible or Fathom for privacy-respecting analytics that don't collect personal data. No BAA required because they don't capture IP addresses or create PHI. If you need detailed analytics comparable to GA4, PostHog is my recommendation. They offer a BAA for healthcare clients, but even without one, PostHog works fine as long as you're not collecting PHI (which you shouldn't be on a marketing site anyway).
Email: Google Workspace with HIPAA BAA for most practices, Paubox for encrypted patient communications, or Microsoft 365 with BAA and proper configuration.
Clinical Integration Layer
Video: Doxy.me for turnkey telehealth (free tier includes BAA), Daily.co for custom video implementations requiring branded experiences.
Practice management: SimplePractice, Jane App, or TherapyNotes handle scheduling, intake, documentation, and patient portals with built-in compliance.
CMS: I build content management directly into the SvelteKit application rather than using external headless CMS platforms. This eliminates third-party vendors from the PHI chain and keeps all content within your controlled infrastructure.
Cost Expectations
| Practice Size | Hosting | Forms | Analytics | Total Stack | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solo/Small (1-5 providers) | $150-200 | $10-15/user | $9-30 | $0-23 | $170-400 |
| Mid-size (5-25 providers) | $300-600 | $12-29/user | $50-200 | $100-500 | $600-2,000 |
| Large/Hospital | $2,000-10,000+ | $12-25/user | $200-1,000+ | $500-3,000+ | $5,000-25,000+ |
Why Work with a Solo Professional vs. Healthcare Web Agency
Healthcare-focused agencies charge premium rates partly justified by their compliance expertise. But expertise isn't exclusive to large teams.
What I offer:
- Direct communication without account manager intermediaries
- 15+ years building for regulated industries
- SvelteKit expertise that agencies typically don't have (they default to WordPress or React)
- Philippines-based rates without quality compromise
- Ongoing partnership, not project handoff and disappearance
What agencies offer:
- Team redundancy (if your primary contact leaves, others know your project)
- Broader service scope (branding, marketing, SEO all in-house)
- Potentially faster timelines through parallel workstreams
For practices that need a fast, compliant website without enterprise budgets, solo professionals like me often deliver better value. For organizations requiring comprehensive marketing services beyond web design, agencies make more sense.
Compare the considerations: agency vs freelancer for web design.The Process: From Consultation to Compliant Launch
Discovery (Week 1)
We map your compliance requirements: - What patient data will the website collect?
- Which vendors and platforms must integrate?
- What's your current HIPAA posture?
- Accessibility requirements based on funding sources
Architecture (Week 2)
I design the technical approach: - Hosting and infrastructure recommendations
- CMS and content management strategy
- Third-party integrations with BAA verification
- Data flow documentation
Design (Weeks 3-4)
Visual design that reflects your practice: - Accessibility baked into the design system
- Brand identity that distinguishes you from template sites
- User experience optimized for patient needs
Development (Weeks 5-8)
Custom build on SvelteKit: - Server-side rendered pages for performance
- Forms integrated with HIPAA-compliant handlers
- Analytics configured for compliance
- Thorough accessibility testing
Launch and Handoff
- Documentation of compliance measures
- Staff training on content management
- Ongoing support options
Ready to Build a Healthcare Website That Works?
I work with therapists, clinics, telehealth platforms, home care agencies, wellness coaches, hormone optimization experts, and longevity practitioners across the US, Canada, UK, and Australia. My approach: build it right the first time so compliance isn't a constant concern.
No pressure. Just a conversation about what your practice needs and whether I'm the right fit to build it.
Transform your website into a revenue-generating asset
Partner with an award-winning Filipino web designer delivering world-class websites to global brands. 15+ years of experience creating sites that convert visitors into customers.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Probably not, if it uses standard plugins and shared hosting. WordPress core isn't HIPAA compliant by default. Compliance requires specific hosting with BAA, encrypted form handlers, compliant analytics, and careful plugin selection. Most WordPress healthcare sites have at least one compliance gap. An audit can identify specific issues.
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Development costs range from $5,000-15,000 for solo practitioners to $25,000-75,000+ for larger organizations. Ongoing operational costs (hosting, email, forms, analytics) run $170-400/month for small practices, $600-2,000/month for mid-size clinics. These costs reflect real compliance requirements, not markup.
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Not safely on pages where patients interact with health-related content. Google Analytics doesn't sign BAAs and can capture PHI through IP addresses combined with page URLs. For privacy-first analytics, use Plausible or Fathom. They don't collect personal data so no BAA is needed. If you need GA4-level features, PostHog offers BAAs for healthcare, but even without one it works fine on marketing pages that don't collect PHI.
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HIPAA-eligible means the vendor's infrastructure supports compliance if properly configured. HIPAA-compliant means you've actually done the configuration, signed the BAA, and implemented required safeguards. AWS is HIPAA-eligible. Your properly configured website on AWS with signed BAA can be HIPAA-compliant.
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Only if the designer accesses, stores, or transmits PHI as part of their work. If I'm building your marketing site and never touch patient data, no BAA is required with me. If I'm building a patient portal and handling test data, yes.
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4-8 weeks for standard practice websites. 8-12+ weeks for complex projects with patient portals, telehealth integration, or EHR connections. Timeline depends on compliance requirements, integration complexity, and content readiness.
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Yes, but equally important. ADA compliance (WCAG 2.1 AA) addresses accessibility for users with disabilities. HIPAA addresses data privacy and security. Healthcare websites must meet both. The May 2026 HHS deadline makes accessibility non-optional for any provider receiving federal funds.
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Usually yes. Modern EHR systems (Epic, Cerner, eClinicalWorks, etc.) offer API access for website integration. The complexity varies by system. I assess integration requirements during discovery to give you an accurate scope and timeline.