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Responsive Design and the New Medicare.gov

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Medicare, Responsive Design
Jon Booth Director, Website & New Media Group, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Monday, September 24, 2012

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) launched a major redesign of the Medicare.gov website making content more accessible and easier for beneficiaries, their families, and caregivers to understand.

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This redesign represents three major milestones:

  1. Mobile: The redesign of Medicare.gov is our first full dive into mobile-friendly web design. We are using "responsive design" which is a new approach to web design that allows us to provide an optimal viewing experience on any device. This allows us to support traditional desktop PCs, tablets, and smartphones all from one URL and code base. That is, there is not a separate mobile or M-Dot website, but Medicare.gov itself is fully optimized when viewed on a mobile device.
  2. Working Better: The migration of Medicare.gov to the Percussion content management system means that for the first time, all of CMS' public websites are managed using the same system. This greatly increases efficiencies and allows us to reuse the same management processes across all of our websites.
  3. People First: This redesign fully embraced the principles of good web management and governance. It is the result of more than two years of research, design, and development work by CMS. Using call center questions, website analytics, and online survey results, CMS identified top user tasks including finding out what Medicare covers, cost and coordination of benefits information, and finding Medicare drug and health plans.

These changes take us strongly in the direction laid out in the Federal CIO's Digital Government Strategy. And the Digital Strategy will be a key driver of all of our web initiatives over the next 12-18 months.

Help us field test our site. Visit Medicare.gov on a smartphone or tablet and let us know what you think! What do you like and what can we work to improve?

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Comments

Submitted by Anonymous on
My parents are 79 and 80 years old and not only do they both use computers but they send text messages to their grandson and skype with grand-daughter. They loved using my Ipad on vacation recently and will test our your site later today
Submitted by Anonymous on
I am all for "good web management and governance" if it brings improvement to care and hospital accountability. I found navigating the the Medicare website impossible to file a complaint about patient care. My father required two more hospital visits in about a month after having both valves replaced in the left chamber of his heart due to fluid overload. Waiting to see if this is functional and serves a purpose...
Submitted by Anonymous on
I think it is great! Baby boomers are computer savvy, and this means for them easy access to something new they have to deal with. The explanations are very simple, and easy to understand. The links are clear enough to find all the information you need with just a few key strokes. Good Job!
Submitted by Anonymous on
NOPE, IT IS NOT A WASTE: gIVEN, MOST SENIORS DO NOT USE A COMPUTER. BUT A HIGHER PERCENTAGE EVERY YEAR IS, CAUSE THE OLDER SENIORS ARE PASSING AWAY, AND THE BABY BOOMER SENIORS ARE COMING ON, AND MANY OF THEM HAD COMPUTERS IN THEIR WORKLIFE AND ARE NOT AFRAID OF THEM. i HAD COMPUTERS SINCE BACK IN 1984 AS A TRAVEL AGENT. THEY DON'T BITE, THEY ARE GOOD TO USE, IF TAKEN IN PERSPECTIVE AND NOT USED TO MUCH - ANYTHING CAN BE ABUSED - I MEAN, SOME PEOPLE EAT ICE CREAM TILL IT MAKES THEM SICK.
Submitted by Anonymous on
YOU TELL US: A lot of us are mature in age (aka old). We have figured out a smart phone but we don't know what Medicare.gov can do on the smart phone. So, you give us a few examples, and thusly encourage us to get to thinking how we could utilize our phones with your WEB site. Even in the bible, a story is given, an example(s) made, and then the reader is encouraged to go and do likewise. We are not Rocket Scientist we need some inspiration. [name withheld for privacy]
Submitted by Anonymous on
Who are what is CMS?
Submitted by Anonymous on
I use the Medicare.gov site regularly, but more often than not the Request MSN facility is not working and I must login many times to successfully request one MSN. Also your choice to disable use of the back button and open in new window or open in new Tab choices on right click makes it much more cumbersome to navigate this system.
Submitted by Anonymous on
SPENDING TAX MONEY ON MORE STUPID THINGS. HELP SOMETHING THAT NEEDS CHANGING.
Submitted by Anonymous on
God Work
Submitted by Anonymous on
Great works

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