Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association Website

Balancing form and function for a new HOPA website

Aware of our expertise within the healthcare space, the Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA) came to Core in need of a revamped website. The organization’s existing site had many persistent issues, including poor search functionality, difficult navigation between the main site and its educational accreditation site (on a different domain), and a confusing content structure that made it difficult for users to find and access important, relevant and timely information.

Cancer drugs today have the potential to change the trajectory for many patients. But treatment is complex, and outcomes are better when medications are used properly, side effects are managed, and patients feel supported. Oncology pharmacists assist patients and caregivers with all of that and more. The Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA) helps facilitate the best possible treatment by advocating for the integral role of hem-onc pharmacists on the patient care team.

The new website needed to serve as the face of the association and facilitate collaboration of hem-onc pharmacists across the country in a way that is simple and enjoyable. Undergoing significant growth as an association in the previous years, HOPA also needed to communicate its new vision — extending the impact of the organization to include patients and caregivers.

Our solution

We facilitated a full web discovery process to deeply understand the challenges of HOPA’s existing site — and how we could improve user and administrator experience. After conducting a full analytics review, integrations audit and content assessment, we collaborated with HOPA leaders and the organization’s marketing team in a digital strategy workshop to guide the new site architecture and align with their priorities.

Understanding that HOPA web users needed to feel informed and supported, we then developed a site map, content strategy and web content outlines that emphasized ease-of-use and information access. By empowering users across different audiences — from pharmacists to patients — with better search functions, a simpler navigation and more accessible content, we made it easy for visitors to find and connect with the resources they needed. To ensure a smooth transition and continuous content updates that would maintain the improved site architecture, we also trained HOPA team members on CMS administration.

“It’s clear that the Core team listened; they heard us during the digital workshop. I appreciate how they are going to push and challenge my team from a design perspective. I have no hesitation showing both of these initial designs to the Board of Directors.”

Michelle Sieg
Director of Communications, HOPA

Results

We redesigned the website’s visuals, choosing design elements, fonts and photography that made content vastly more legible and transformed the organization’s overall look and feel — from cold and clinical to warm and approachable. With every detail considered for optimal user experience, the site we built effectively welcomes visitors to linger and learn.

It’s thanks to this step-by-step collaborative process that we developed a new CMS experience that made it easier for HOPA staff to manage, maintain and update its website with new and relevant content for its many user audiences.

After training and deployment, we have received minimal requests for website support or maintenance. The new HOPA website offers its users — and administrators — a better experience for learning and sharing about pharmacists’ important role in changing patients’ lives.