At the heart of your digital opportunities: The only HIPAA-compliant composable solution with commercetools for Healthcare

The digital opportunity for health commerce is here: Consumers are spending more on health and wellness, and B2B buyers at hospitals, public health programs and care facilities are eager to procure online with ease. However, businesses have struggled to fully unlock the potential of commerce in healthcare due to the complexities of compliance around protected health data — until now.

Learn how commercetools for Healthcare breathes new life into customer experiences with the flexibility of composable commerce allied with security for sensitive and protected health data, including HIPAA compliance for the US and HDS certification for France.

With an annual growth rate of 19.1%, the healthcare industry is synonymous with big business on a global scale, with the eCommerce market size projected to reach $874.76 billion USD by 2028. The diverse sector, encompassing hospitals, medical device manufacturers, insurance carriers, pharmacies, public health programs and more, is set for rapid growth. This expansion is driven by high consumer spending on personal care and wellness, alongside rising B2B buyer expectations for seamless online purchasing.

However, translating these digital opportunities into commerce hasn’t always been easy. The highly regulated nature of healthcare, the inherent complexities of the sector, and the fact that many companies operate across multiple business models (B2B, D2C, B2B2C, etc.) have hindered the adoption of digital commerce at scale. As a result, healthcare lags behind most other industries in digital adoption rates, according to McKinsey.

When we zoom into more detail on the reasons why healthcare organizations haven’t leveraged digital commerce opportunities to their full potential, we can pinpoint four main reasons: 

1. Safeguarding PHI data isn’t an out-of-the-box capability

When a transaction involves protected health information (PHI), such as an email address associated with an order for a glucose monitor, this data must be securely processed within the commerce platform, a capability often not available out-of-the-box by most commerce vendors. In the United States and France, HIPAA compliance and HDS certification, respectively, are essential to enable the secure processing of protected health information within the commerce architecture. 

When commerce vendors aren’t able to comply with such requirements, the general security standards and practices that contribute to overall data protection and safety become the burden of healthcare organizations (covered entities) to ensure that their business associates (the commerce vendors) are in compliance. 

2. Legacy commerce systems serving the health industry aren’t flexible enough

The few commerce solutions that provide the necessary security for healthcare organizations are typically legacy platforms. The problem is that these monolithic systems lack the flexibility to translate complex use cases into intuitive buying experiences, regardless of whether safeguarding PHI is required. This is because the monolithic platform bundles all the commerce components (backend, frontend, and everything in between) in one system, a notoriously inflexible setup that slows businesses down. 

This inflexibility means many healthcare companies operating across multiple business models end up with disparate, siloed systems, further adding to their already complex interoperability landscape. As a result, they struggle to release features that meet customer needs and cannot efficiently automate complex, manual and time-consuming sales and ordering processes.

3. Leveraging data in monolithic environments is limited  

Monolithic infrastructures also hinder healthcare companies from leveraging data effectively due to the challenges of achieving seamless interoperability across systems. This makes it nearly impossible to utilize data, even when consumers are willing to share it. According to McKinsey, “Healthcare organizations have largely not expanded their use of personal and health data to deliver a differentiated experience across the healthcare journey.”

With the ineffective use of data, alongside the right frameworks to safeguard it while enabling its use, healthcare companies lag eCommerce that rely on best practices for customer, product and transaction data. 

An interoperable system that taps into APIs (application programming interfaces) to exchange data across various systems, like an ERP, is essential. For example, healthcare buyers may need to make decisions based on the stock levels of certain products, from medicines to PCR lab equipment. Full visibility of inventory availability is crucial, and this is an area where an API-first environment excels, in contrast to legacy systems where data is largely siloed.

Another example is the interoperability with an e-prescription system or EHR (electronic health record), which is a systematized collection of patient health information in a digital format, such as medical history, diagnoses, etc., with commerce. When a doctor prescribes or even orders a blood glucose monitor on behalf of the patient, safe data exchange and interoperability are key to enabling that transaction. 

4. Healthcare manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers lack digital maturity just like most B2B organizations 

Manufacturers and other suppliers in the healthcare industry lag behind in digitization, reflecting a broader theme of the entire B2B sector. Even today, many B2B organizations process transactions offline through sales representatives using phone calls and emails. 

However, the B2B healthcare market is rapidly embracing digitization, with 94% of healthcare buyers researching products online first. Despite this shift, while the B2B market is accelerating digital adoption to meet buyers’ online expectations, most organizations still have a long way to go to achieve significant digital maturity.

For healthcare commerce to thrive, companies in the sector need three prerequisites fulfilled: 

Enter the commercetools for Healthcare solution. By harnessing the flexibility of composable commerce to craft exceptional customer experiences while ensuring regulatory compliance and security for sensitive and protected health data, you can unlock new possibilities — from digital patient engagement and ordering process automation and beyond.

With our recently included HIPAA compliance within the commercetools Platform, alongside the HDS certification in France and GDPR compliance in the European Union, coupled with our unwavering commitment to robust security practices, we ensure secure PHI (protected health information) processing. This enables you to seize new opportunities while upholding the utmost data security standards.

Here are four opportunities commercetools for Healthcare opens for your business: 

1. Flexibility for multiple business models, brands and more 

As mentioned earlier, healthcare businesses often operate across various business models, including B2B, B2C, D2C, B2B2C and even marketplaces. Those relying on legacy platforms usually encounter the challenge of managing disparate technology stacks, often one per business model. It’s worth noting that most legacy technologies can only support the B2C model, lacking crucial capabilities to address the complexity of B2B or B2B2C transactions. 

On the other hand, B2B healthcare companies face challenges in extending their operations to include D2C (direct-to-consumer) sales while managing multiple commerce platforms. The D2C sector represents a burgeoning market as consumers progressively take charge of their health monitoring, wellness, and more. Beyond business models, healthcare companies also operate across a wide range of brands tailored to specific targeted audiences or markets.  

To foster synergies across business models and brands instead of creating more silos with disparate platforms, commercetools enables you to run multiple business models (as well as brands) in one platform. Essentially, your business operates with one commercetools project in the backend, while allowing for business model-specific rules and settings in the frontend — your digital storefront.

Vision Healthcare, a leading European consumer healthcare platform, created D2C brands to empower people to enhance their health and well-being. With 75 brands launched across 44 markets, the company migrated from an in-house commerce platform to commercetools Composable Commerce to implement engaging customer experiences to boost growth.

Furthermore, companies with a B2B focus or those intending to venture into B2B markets can harness all the out-of-the-box (OOTB) B2B functionalities offered by commercetools. These include features such as business units, quote management, roles and permissions and more.

The global producer of food and beverages, Danone, operates a healthcare division in the UK that leverages one commerce platform for B2B, B2C and D2C models. B2B customers can order medical samples directly from Danone, streamlining the customer experience while gathering key data on how these customers use its products. 

2. Scale for global expansions while meeting country-specific regulations

Similar to businesses in other industries, healthcare companies are keen to expand globally. However, the unique nature of healthcare introduces additional challenges, particularly regarding country-specific regulations governing data privacy, security and compliance.

A composable solution with built-in security, commercetools for Healthcare, addresses these challenges by meeting country-specific requirements and regulations. Moreover, businesses seeking to expand their commerce operations into highly regulated markets such as China can rely on localized flexibility, ensuring country-specific availability, security and performance.

Alcon, the world’s largest eyecare device company, faced a challenge: Inadequate commerce capabilities across several markets. Even in markets with eCommerce, the company operated on disparate systems for B2B and B2B2C transactions. This lack of flexibility hindered its ability to enter new markets or customize sites to comply with varying healthcare and life sciences regulations worldwide. With commercetools, Alcon has gained the flexibility to create tailored sites for each market, ensuring they meet specific regulatory requirements while delivering exceptional performance and meeting customer needs.

3. Ensure efficiency gains and systems interoperability  

The API-first approach of composable commerce enables seamless interoperability and data exchange among various systems, empowering healthcare companies to automate manual and time-consuming processes, leading to significant time and cost savings. With data seamlessly synchronized within a centralized commerce platform like commercetools, healthcare organizations can streamline operations and optimize efficiency.

Using data throughout the entire buying journey is also a benefit, as a composable approach eliminates data silos and ensures critical information, such as stock levels and product details, remains accessible at every stage.

ACE Southern, a leading manufacturer and distributor in the oral surgery space, used to rely on a legacy system that was so inflexible it took weeks to make a change or fix a bug. With commercetools Composable Commerce for B2B, the manufacturer improved processes and performance due to the ease of using APIs to manage and exchange data. 

4. Digitize sophisticated use cases at speed 

Healthcare products and purchasing journeys often entail complexity, which prevents many companies from embracing digital commerce. However, the composable commerce approach offered by commercetools cuts down this complexity. Not only does it provide all essential features out-of-the-box to cater to multiple business models, brands and regions, but it also offers extensibility options that provide the playground to mold unique requirements into intuitive experiences. 

In short, with a robust platform combining unparalleled flexibility, extensibility and built-in security, you can develop sophisticated use cases — from selling prescription products requiring secure PHI processing to creating personalized B2B portals.

For instance, Cepheid, a molecular diagnostic company specializing in PCR lab equipment and testing, hesitated to adopt an eCommerce approach for a long time due to the intricate nature of its products. These products typically require demonstration and a highly personalized path to purchase. However, when COVID-19 struck, customers urgently sought information about their orders, prompting Cepheid to embark on a rapid digital transformation journey.

In just six months, the organization successfully implemented commercetools Composable Commerce for its MyCepheid B2B portal. This portal offers a personalized dashboard where customers can efficiently access and manage orders, invoices, shipment information and view open cases — all conveniently available in one place. The platform ensures that everything a customer needs to know about their account is easily accessible, including a "Buy Again" widget for streamlined reordering of previously purchased items. Moreover, the Cepheid online store provides comprehensive inventory information, product availability and more.

With commercetools for Healthcare, your business can now seize opportunities that were previously deemed too challenging. Whether it’s enhancing digital patient engagement, digitizing purchasing experiences for B2B buyers, automating orders or addressing PHI security concerns, this is the commerce solution that simplifies and accelerates the digitization of commerce for the healthcare industry. 

Discover how commercetools for Healthcare can help your business by contacting our experts.