Studio of Stories

How do you design a website that serves both seasoned healthcare professionals and people just trying to understand how prescriptions work? That’s the challenge we explored in our Information Architecture course through a group analysis of Surescripts.com.

Surescripts is a U.S.-based health information network that powers things like e-prescribing, real-time prescription benefit checks, and secure clinical messaging. Its users include doctors, pharmacists, insurers, IT vendors—and indirectly, the public. But with such a wide range of stakeholders, how well does its website structure support everyone?

Using three IA lenses — Browsability, Component vs. Page, and Education — I and my team from Information Architecture course, explored the site’s usability. Here are our findings.

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Browsability: Following the Curiosity Trail

The homepage does a solid job encouraging casual browsing. It uses clickable tiles to highlight services like “Intelligent Prescribing” and “Interoperability,” while dropdown menus help users preview what’s inside. There’s also a prominent search bar, which is useful for goal-oriented visitors.

But once users dive deeper, the experience becomes more linear and technical. There are no “related content” sections, no breadcrumbs, and no exploratory suggestions like “You might also be interested in…”. Even a simple callout like “Are you a provider?” or “New to Surescripts? Start here.” could have invited users into a more of a tailored experience.

In short: the homepage welcomes curiosity, but the deeper you go, the more it assumes you already know where you’re headed and do not require any further assistance nor guidance.

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Component vs. Page: Repetition vs. Rhythm

One of the key services, Intelligent Prescribing, is structured as a tile (component), a dropdown item (element), and a standalone page. That’s good reuse. But once inside the page, that visual pattern falls apart. The clean, scannable tiles from the homepage aren’t reused in deeper layers, and CTAs (calls to action) vary in style, color, and placement.

This inconsistency interrupts the user experience. A modular, repeated structure would help users know what to expect no matter where they land on the website. If a doctor clicks in from a search engine, they should still feel the same intuitive design rhythm as someone browsing from the homepage.

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Education: Teaching Without Assuming

Surescripts tries to educate through layered content—starting with high-level summaries, then revealing long-form explanations and industry stats. This is a smart approach. But it falls short by relying heavily on jargon.

Terms like “PBM” (Pharmacy Benefit Manager), “Formulary Data,” and “Interoperability” appear without definition or context. This creates a barrier for people who are non-experts. A simple glossary, on-hover definitions, or even audience-specific guides could help out a lot.

This is especially important in healthcare, where trust and understanding are critical. You can’t afford to lose people in the terminology.

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So, Who Is This Site For?

That’s the core question. Right now, the site leans toward professionals, but in doing so, it risks excluding others. Patients, students, and even policy-makers deserve content that meets them where they are.

Balancing the needs of diverse users isn’t easy, but it’s possible. Through better segmentation, layered explanations, and consistent design patterns, Surescripts could support both doctors and everyday users.

Because good information architecture doesn’t just organize content. It opens doors.