With its new website hosted in the AWS cloud, MedStar now offers patients an effective way to search for doctors, services, and locations, and make medical appointments—all from within a single portal. The cost of operating and maintaining the website has declined by more than 40 percent per month. At the same time, downtime has been reduced from 120 minutes to less than 5 minutes per month, while page download times have decreased from an average of 1,500 milliseconds to 120 milliseconds. As a result, patients are spending more time on the website, with fewer people abandoning their searches. “Running our website on AWS has dramatically improved the user experience,” says Swearingen. “Our bounce rate on the website has gone way down, our time on the page has gone way up, and our most recent numbers show that the number of page views is increasing.”

MedStar believes the improved digital experience will be more satisfying for current patients and customers and eventually will open pathways to new customers. And over the long term, AWS offers MedStar a platform for growth as it positions itself as a digital healthcare leader. “Using AWS has made it possible for us to engage our patients more directly—and offer them a reliable and efficient experience,” says Swearingen. “And we now have the foundation for creating mobile, social, and web services that dramatically improve every aspect of the healthcare experience.”