The Challenge

Carilion Clinic is a not-for-profit healthcare provider based in Roanoke, Virginia. When they first engaged Modea in 2015, their website was outdated and falling behind regional and national competitors. Carilion needed a digital presence that could better attract, serve, and retain patients in an increasingly competitive healthcare landscape.

The organization’s digital goals were clear: create a mobile-first experience that connected patients to the right care, featured intuitive navigation and conversion tools, and allowed users to find providers, book appointments, pay bills, and access telehealth options seamlessly.

The outdated site’s structure and content limited discoverability and usability. Specialty pages were siloed, calls-to-action were inconsistent, and more than 60% of users were visiting via mobile yet encountering friction in completing key tasks.

Our Approach

Product Strategy

Modea began with in-depth analytics, user experience research, and journey mapping to understand patient needs and site pain points. Findings revealed that most users entered through organic search—often on provider or specialty pages—and abandoned sessions due to poor content structure and limited connective pathways.

The Modea team partnered closely with Carilion stakeholders to redesign the experience around patient goals. Our UX designers and researchers conducted user testing, surveys, and interviews to develop four core personas and design user flows tailored to their needs.

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UX/UI Design

Modea designed a mobile-first website that simplified the patient journey and emphasized clear, actionable pathways. The experience allows users to easily:

  • Book appointments or schedule video visits

  • Find a doctor or nearby location

  • Pay bills online

  • Access condition and specialty information quickly

The redesign connected siloed content across specialties through contextual navigation and clear calls-to-action—creating a cohesive, intuitive experience that reflected Carilion’s brand and patient-first mission.

As part of an ongoing partnership, Modea has since introduced “super-specialty” templates that improve cross-linking between related conditions and services, added assisted search informed by the most-searched conditions, and enhanced global search to mimic Google’s natural language behavior. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Modea also designed a video visits landing page to help patients identify appropriate virtual care options.

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Digital Platform Development

Modea rebuilt Carilion’s digital platform to improve speed, scalability, and accessibility. Key initiatives included:

  • Migrating from a legacy CMS to a modern, enterprise-grade platform to enhance performance, security, and content management

  • Implementing Solr-powered search with synonym recognition and natural language capabilities

  • Developing a responsive Angular-based front end for a consistent experience across devices

  • Establishing a BitBucket CI/CD pipeline to maintain code quality and streamline deployment

  • Automating data migration from Carilion’s Cactus feed to ensure provider and location information remains current

Modea continues to support Carilion through a flexible consulting and content partnership, providing project management, UX/UI design, content authorship, and analytics support to expand service line content, improve taxonomy, and advance digital inclusivity.

Solution

The result is a modern, patient-focused website that delivers a seamless digital healthcare experience from any device. Patients can find doctors, pay bills, or book appointments on-the-go—supported by an architecture that is scalable, secure, and aligned with Carilion’s long-term digital strategy.

Modea’s ongoing collaboration ensures the platform continues to evolve, incorporating new technologies, accessibility best practices, and data-driven content improvements to maintain Carilion’s competitive edge.

 

Results

The redesigned website produced measurable improvements in engagement and conversion within the first year:

  • +25% Mobile Engagement

  • +13% Traffic to Detail Pages

  • +35% User Retention Rate

  • −27% Mobile Page Load Time

By surfacing high-value KPIs such as scheduling, directions, and calls, Carilion’s conversion rate increased significantly, reflecting stronger user engagement and measurable ROI from their digital ecosystem.

 

Accessibility Compliance

We maintained accessibility standards throughout the design and development process. The product was built to meet the latest WCAG AA compliance standards, and we conduct ongoing accessibility audits and testing across all devices and user flows.

 

Technologies Used

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Awards Won

  • W3 Award: Best Practices
  • eHealthcare Leadership Awards: Best Mobile Website
“
"We built a site that offers customers a frictionless healthcare digital experience from the palm of their hand. Patients can book an appointment, find a doctor, pay a bill, or search for a nearby location—all while on-the-go."
- Software Engineering Lead, Modea

Key Takeaways

Carilion Clinic’s transformation illustrates how a mobile-first, data-informed approach can directly improve patient engagement and business performance. Through continuous collaboration, user testing, and accessibility-driven design, Modea has helped Carilion evolve its digital presence into a strategic tool for patient acquisition, retention, and satisfaction—one that continues to grow year after year.

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