Lee Health Inside Lee Health’s Continuous Website Innovation Strategy

Translating Patient-Centered Care to the Digital Experience

As Florida’s largest not-for-profit public health system, Lee Health is trusted to deliver compassionate, high-quality care across Southwest Florida. The organization serves more than one million patient contacts annually.

In person, that commitment was clear. Online, the experience hadn’t kept pace. Routine website updates were difficult to manage, and key digital touchpoints—such as provider search, job applications, and appointment scheduling—were fragmented across third-party tools. This created a disjointed experience that frustrated both patients and internal teams.

Rather than invest in a costly, full-scale redesign, Lee Health chose a more sustainable path: incremental digital improvements guided by user needs. The goal was not to overhaul everything at once, but to build a flexible strategy that could evolve over time and deliver immediate value.

Building a Foundation for Long-Term Digital Growth

To address these challenges, Lee Health and Reason One began with deep discovery: user and stakeholder surveys, user testing, competitive analysis, and technical evaluation. The result was a digital strategy aligned around four primary goals: drive patient action, improve usability, enhance internal workflows, and acquire new talent.

Together, we developed a simplified, task-based information architecture, introduced smarter “finder” tools for providers, locations, and services, and implemented a flexible design system built to scale. Lee Health’s new website launched in 2020 on a more modern CMS, providing internal teams with easier content management and setting a strong foundation for future growth.

But most importantly, the team didn’t stop there. Instead of waiting years for another redesign, Lee Health adopted a continuous improvement model—evolving the site quarter by quarter, backed by real data and driven by real user needs.

Scaling Smarter: Why Continuous Optimization Wins

Every quarter, Lee Health and Reason One followed a focused improvement cycle: audit, strategize, prioritize, execute. This repeatable model allowed the team to make targeted enhancements without disruption, scope creep, or lengthy development timelines.

Continuous improvement translated into measurable gains across traffic, visibility, and engagement—year after year.

Despite launching during the pandemic, the site saw a 24% increase in sessions and 34% more new users in Year 1. By Year 4, digital visibility climbed even higher, with a 42% increase in organic traffic and a 52% boost in Page 1 search rankings—demonstrating the compounding benefits of an incremental strategy.

This steady progress not only improved access and usability for patients but also empowered internal teams. With greater flexibility and autonomy, Lee Health can respond to user needs faster, act on insights, and maintain digital momentum across departments.

Incremental Enhancements, Measurable Outcomes

This model of continuous improvement paid off in several high-impact ways—because websites only perform when teams are empowered to act.

One early example: Golisano Children’s Hospital needed a stronger digital presence. Stakeholders initially requested a standalone microsite, but managing a separate property would have added unnecessary cost and complexity. Instead, the team delivered a tailored landing page that provided a microsite-like experience—consolidating key information, improving navigation, and introducing a distinct visual identity. Launched in just three months, the update led to a 10% increase in traffic, improved stakeholder satisfaction, and zero disruption to operations.

Another quick win came with the addition of real-time urgent care wait times in the site’s global navigation. This small, strategic enhancement had a major impact: urgent care appointments booked through the site more than doubled within weeks, generating $2.5 million in new revenue—without requiring a full redesign.

When Lee Health’s IT/IS team sought to embed a new virtual care tool, the team again went beyond a basic integration. Instead, they created a fully guided “Get Care” experience that helped patients self-navigate from symptom to service through intuitive decision support. The six-month initiative delivered measurable value on all sides: 97% patient satisfaction, 80% average cost savings for patients, and a median provider time of just eight minutes.

Each of these enhancements—delivered through small, focused sprints—proved the power of a flexible strategy and a responsive team. By empowering internal stakeholders and aligning digital updates with real user needs, Lee Health continues to drive results for both patients and providers.

Empowering Teams Through Digital Governance

Websites don’t perform if teams aren’t empowered to manage and evolve them. For Lee Health, real digital transformation wasn’t just about platforms or tools—it was about people.

A dedicated product owner role helped bridge the gap between marketing and IS—aligning business goals, technical realities, and user expectations. With support from Reason One, the team established strong governance, clear roadmaps, and open communication channels. Together, these structures gave teams the clarity and confidence to act quickly, prioritize effectively, and maintain momentum.

This shift—from reactive updates to a responsive, cross-functional culture—turned digital strategy into an everyday capability.

Want the full story straight from the source? Hear how Lee Health and Reason One brought this strategy to life—and what they’d do differently next time.

Future-Ready Through Continuous Improvement

Today, Lee Health continues to evolve its digital platform—not through one-time overhauls, but through steady, strategic progress. With a strong foundation in place, the team is now pushing the boundaries of what’s possible through exploration and experimentation with emerging healthcare technologies.

That includes critical investments in AI tooling, training, and governance to empower digital teams, improve productivity, and drive higher-quality outcomes. The health system is also exploring more interactive, semi-conversational user experiences that incorporate geographic personalization—designed to stand out in competitive, fast-growing markets.

New tools are also in development to better market and manage institute websites, enabling more tailored journeys based on user intent, location, and care needs.

This next tier of continuous improvement is more than an optimization effort—it’s a strategic evolution. One that positions Lee Health to deliver smarter, more consumer-centric experiences while staying aligned to its mission of accessible, patient-centered care in every interaction, online and off.

24%Increase in sessions

42%Increase in organic traffic

52%Increase in Page 1 search rankings