Hartford HealthCare Partnership
What We Did
Building a connected digital experience for Connecticut’s largest healthcare system.
For more than twelve years, Julia Balfour has partnered with Hartford HealthCare to help shape one of New England’s largest and most complex healthcare organizations online. What began in 2014 as a single website engagement has grown into a long-term relationship spanning behavioral health, primary care, specialty services, physician search, enterprise web development, and content strategy.
Today, Hartford HealthCare’s online presence supports millions of patient interactions each year across dozens of organizations, hundreds of locations, and nearly every area of care. As the organization has evolved, so has our role — from designing individual websites to helping shape one of New England’s most sophisticated healthcare platforms.
Project Goals
As Hartford HealthCare expanded across Connecticut, its digital presence needed to support a growing network of hospitals, institutes, specialty practices, and care centers — while still feeling unified to the people relying on it. The challenge wasn’t simply managing more websites. It was creating a digital presence that could grow without losing its sense of identity.
Unified Brand Experience
Every Hartford HealthCare organization needed to feel connected to the larger system. Bringing more than two dozen properties into a shared content management platform established a stronger framework for brand stewardship across the organization.
Patient-Centered Navigation
Whether someone was searching for addiction treatment, primary care, or a specialist, every pathway needed to feel intuitive. Navigation and information architecture were carefully considered to help people find the right care with confidence.
Built to Evolve
Growth has been a constant throughout this partnership. Shared components, flexible content models, and carefully considered development practices created a foundation that could adapt as Hartford HealthCare continued to expand.
Accessibility & Inclusion
As the digital landscape has evolved, JB has continued to advise Hartford HealthCare on accessible and inclusive best practices, implementing solutions that create a better digital experience for patients across the system.
Continuous Improvement
Rather than treating launch as the finish line, every initiative informs the next. Ongoing competitive research, thoughtful refinements, and long-term planning continue to shape Hartford HealthCare’s digital experience year after year.
At a Glance
12+ years
of trusted service
28+
website properties
350+
Medical Group Locations
Millions
of patient interactions annually
Premier mental healthcare for all
The Shores at Hartford HealthCare
The Shores represents a significant reimagining of Hartford HealthCare’s behavioral health services at its historic Westport campus, which has served the community for more than a century. The opportunity was to honor that legacy while introducing a modern, welcoming destination for patients across the economic spectrum.
Unlike other facilities in the region, The Shores accepts a broad range of insurance providers, making exceptional mental healthcare accessible to more people. The digital experience needed to communicate that commitment while reflecting the quality of care found throughout the organization.
The Welcome Center
One of The Shores’ defining features is its Welcome Center, where licensed clinicians — not administrative staff — answer every initial call. That philosophy shaped every decision that followed.
Rather than treating the phone number as another call-to-action, we designed the site around making that first connection feel immediate and reassuring. Every page quietly reinforces the same idea: expert care is only one conversation away.
Design Philosophy
We built the content from the ground up, drawing on competitive research to better understand what patients and families are looking for when exploring residential mental healthcare.
Transparency around admissions, clear explanations of the treatment process, and refined pathways for patients, loved ones, and referring clinicians all became central to the experience. Every page answers the questions patients and families are already asking, helping visitors feel informed before taking the next step.
ready when it mattered most
COVID-19 Digital Response
When the COVID-19 pandemic changed healthcare overnight, Hartford HealthCare needed a trusted digital partner capable of moving just as quickly. Years of collaboration and a strong technical foundation made it possible to respond immediately.
Public-facing websites were rapidly updated to guide patients through evolving protocols, appointment information, MyChart access, and testing resources using clear, reassuring language during an exceptionally uncertain time.
At the same time, a new system-wide intranet was designed and launched in just two weeks, providing thousands of clinicians and colleagues with a centralized resource for policies, PPE guidance, operational updates, and rapidly changing information.
Moments like these aren’t built overnight. They’e made possible by years of trust, shared knowledge, and the ability to move quickly together.
This is a major accomplishment! Thank you all for your diligence, focus, and talent. We needed every bit of it to make this happen — and you never disappointed! Major kudos.
Keith fontaine, VP of marketing at hartford healthcare
on the covid-19 intranet
Connected care, system-wide
Hartford HealthCare Medical Group
Serving hundreds of providers across more than 350 locations, Hartford HealthCare Medical Group is often the first point of connection for patients entering the healthcare system. Improving that experience meant simplifying how people search, compare, and access care.
The project also became an opportunity to establish new content patterns and reusable components that continue to influence websites across the broader Hartford HealthCare portfolio.
Content Excellence
Every page was refined to answer the questions patients naturally ask, rather than organizational structure or service descriptions. Physician profiles were developed to build trust before the first appointment, connecting expertise with the information people need to make confident decisions about their care.
When technology meets human needs
System-Wide Physician Finder
Finding the right physician can feel overwhelming, particularly within one of Connecticut’s largest healthcare systems.
The Physician Finder was designed to simplify that experience, helping patients navigate hundreds of providers across dozens of specialties and locations with confidence. Rather than adding complexity, every design decision supports a straightforward goal: helping people connect with the right provider as quickly and intuitively as possible.
one source, system wide reach
News Hub
The News Hub was created to centralize health and wellness content, allowing a single story to extend across public websites, internal communications, and digital marketing channels while supporting search visibility and patient education. Physician expertise is woven throughout the experience, strengthening trust while expanding the reach of every piece of content.
Just wanted to say how much I appreciate the work you and the team have done to update the look and feel of the new site. It’s much more intuitive and user friendly and should make a big difference in people finding the information they need in the moment, no matter their role.
Kimberly M.
Director of Human resources at Hartford Healthcare
Built for the future.
One of the greatest strengths of this partnership isn’t any individual website — it’s the foundation supporting them all.
Over more than a decade, Hartford HealthCare’s web platform has continued to evolve alongside the organization itself. Shared design systems, reusable content structures, and a mature multisite platform have made it possible to support continued growth while maintaining a cohesive experience across the portfolio.
The result is a platform designed not only for today, but for whatever comes next.
What Hartford HealthCare has taught us:
Working alongside Hartford HealthCare for more than twelve years has shaped the way we think about partnership. We’ve been part of major launches, everyday improvements, periods of enormous growth, and moments when plans had to change almost overnight. And through all of it, we’ve had the chance to work with incredibly smart people across the organization.
We’ve learned a lot from the teams at Hartford HealthCare, and they’ve learned from us, too. Over time, we’ve gotten to know not only the organization, but the people behind it — how they work, what matters to them, and where each of us can bring something valuable to the table. Working relationships have become real relationships, and that history makes the work better.
We’re not starting from scratch with every new project. We’re building on years of conversations, lessons learned, ideas shared, and problems we’ve already solved together. And no matter what we’re working on, there’s a shared understanding of who it’s ultimately for: the people who rely on Hartford HealthCare every day.
Looking Ahead
What began as a single website engagement has become a twelve-year partnership built on trust, shared knowledge, and a commitment to continual improvement.
Today, Julia Balfour serves as an extension of Hartford HealthCare’s digital team — helping guide an evolving portfolio of websites that supports patients, clinicians, and communities across Connecticut.
The work continues, and so does the partnership.
