Cultivating a Digital Culture for Effective Patient Engagement offers a strategic framework for healthcare provider websites in order to support patient engagement and connected health initiatives. Referred to as the Health Empowerment Web Strategy Index (HEWSi), the proposed framework is complemented by a detailed "check list" of health empowerment items organizations should incorporate into their website design.


A healthcare provider’s website should be an effective resource for empowering the health of patients no matter where patients are in their digital culture evolution. The challenge for many organizations is that patient engagement/connected health initiatives are frequently developed and managed separately from the organization’s digital marketing efforts. This book recognizes this disconnect and advocates for a reimaging of healthcare provider websites based on the four domains of the HEWSi strategic framework: (1) orienting; (2) enlightening; (3) aligning; and (4) personalizing. As a framework and toolkit, HEWSi helps breakdown patient engagement silos within healthcare organizations by allowing varied functional teams (marketing; web developers; patient experience staff; clinical leaders; HIM/HIS personnel; etc.) to congregate around a shared pathway for conversing, strategizing, planning, and developing an effective patient empowerment website.