A direct-to-consumer digital platform to simplify healthcare access

Digital platform to simplify healthcare access

A global pharmaceutical giant worked with Modus Create to develop a direct-to-consumer digital platform that simplifies healthcare access for millions of Americans. Collaborating across product design, engineering, and telehealth integration, we built an AWS-powered responsive platform that allows users to schedule same-day appointments, order medications, and book vaccinations.

Our work involved

• Full-stack product development
• QA automation
• Agile project management
• Responsive digital platform development
• Containerized deployment with Amazon Elastic Container Service
• Low-latency database functionality with Amazon DynamoDB
• Serverless automation with AWS Lambda
• DDoS with AWS Shield

Over 16 million American adults reported being unable to receive necessary medical care in 2023. Our client, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical giants, wanted to build a direct-to-consumer (D2C) digital platform that would provide millions of Americans direct access to critical health and wellness services.

As this was the pharma company’s first digital venture into the D2C healthcare market, they turned to Modus Create, their trusted digital transformation partner, to lead the project.

Challenge

Improving healthcare access for millions of Americans

American adults spend eight hours every month coordinating healthcare. Additionally, patients who cannot secure an appointment within a week end up waiting almost a month for one.

Therefore, the pharma company wanted a D2C digital platform that would help users cut down on the time and steps needed to access essential health services like getting care, filling prescriptions, and scheduling vaccinations.

A dedicated 12-member team from Modus Create, including full-stack and back-end engineers, a scrum master, product owner, and QA experts, partnered with the pharma company to build the platform. The team had to address four key requirements. The platform must:

• be fully responsive, performing seamlessly across different browsers, screen sizes, and devices.
• handle high traffic, supporting millions of unique users.
• support complex integrations with pharmacies and healthcare providers.
• protect sensitive personal health information (PHI) and adhere to healthcare security regulations.

As the company’s first D2C digital platform, the project generated significant excitement and opened the door for similar innovations in the future.

Building a responsive and scalable digital platform

Modus Create’s team collaborated closely with the pharma company’s UX team in two-week sprints, enabling rapid iteration based on feedback and shifting priorities. The team used daily scrum meetings to maintain alignment and make continuous progress.

To make the digital platform responsive and compatible with all devices, we leveraged advanced front-end technologies like Angular 18 and Ionic 8.

We also leaned heavily on Amazon Elastic Container Service(ECS) to build a scalable infrastructure with containerized application deployment. ECS is a powerful service for enabling global accessibility and fault tolerance during traffic surges.

The team used Amazon DynamoDB for low-latency, highly available database functionality that integrated directly with pharmacy and provider networks, including Walgreens. AWS Lambda helped us handle critical backend processes for serverless automation. These solutions helped us reduce infrastructure overhead and enable event-driven execution for scheduling, notifications, and user authentication. Finally, we implemented AWS Shield for enterprise-grade protection against DDoS attacks.

This AWS-backed tech stack ensured seamless performance across browsers and screen sizes. The initial release of the platform featured critical capabilities, including:

• Same-day in-person and telehealth appointments with healthcare providers
• Vaccination scheduling
• Home delivery of diagnostic tests and prescription medications
• Financial support for medication access

Our tech stack

Despite encountering a major challenge when the company changed its UX team in the middle of the project, Modus Create remained agile. This change prompted significant revisions, but our development team adapted effortlessly-reworking designs, maintaining quality, and keeping the project on track. Throughout the process, the Modus Create team demonstrated exceptional flexibility, problem-solving, and a commitment to delivering high-quality code. Ultimately, we ensured the digital platform launched on time and within budget.

Impact

Bridging the healthcare gap with technology

Launched in August 2024, the D2C digital platform quickly gained traction, attracting over 480,000 visits in its first week. A strategic partnership with 200+ Walgreens stores further boosted its visibility through in-store promotions, extending its reach beyond digital channels. This blend of online innovation and offline promotion increased awareness and accessibility to a broader audience.

The AWS-powered platform directly addressed the pain points many Americans face when navigating the healthcare system, particularly during the high-demand fall season. And it did so while safeguarding personal health information (PHI) and maintaining compliance with HIPAA and other healthcare security standards.

The D2C platform’s high-performance, cloud-native infrastructure is built to scale with evolving healthcare needs, enabling future capabilities such as AI-driven health recommendations, broader provider partnerships, and real-time patient monitoring.