As required by the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (21st Century IDEA), this report details the progress of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) during 2019 to modernize websites.
Background
21st Century IDEA requires federal executive branch agencies to report to Congress, OMB, and the public, on their progress to modernize their websites and digital services. The report to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is required once per year, for five years, beginning in December 2019. Agencies must report to the Director of OMB, and the public, on the agency's progress over the previous year to implement the requirements of the Act and modernize their digital footprint.
High-level data on how people interact with HHS public websites and digital services is available at https://analytics.usa.gov/health-human-services/.
Section 3 - Website Modernization
Improving customer interactions with HHS websites and digital services is a high priority for the department. A customer's digital experience is impacted by many things, including usability, mobile functionality including page load speeds, search, the way the content is presented both in the written word and visually, the way content is organized, and a person's ability to complete their tasks. HHS aims to provide our varied audiences with easy, intuitive, and clear online experiences, and have taken multiple steps to further this goal.
During this first year under 21st Century IDEA, HHS conducted the following modernization activities:
Coordination
- Worked with GSA and other Federal government website leaders on a tiger team to create guidance recommendations for IDEA compliance
- Began coordination among the Chief Information Officer staff and the Digital Communications staffs
- Created a Digital Communications Strategy to align HHS on vision, mission, goals, and objectives towards achieving the modernization requirements of IDEA.
Research
- Compiled a comprehensive inventory of HHS websites
- Conducted a data call to determine status of IDEA compliance on existing websites
- Attached analytics data to the inventory to determine high-impact websites
- Conducted extensive research across HHS to determine communications gaps and desires and align on a strategy for achieving modernization
Analysis and Prioritization
- Analyzed the results of our website data call.
- Identified the following high-impact websites and digital services:
| Priority Website | Brief Description | FY19 Page Views |
|---|---|---|
| ncbi.nlm.nih.gov | National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine (NLM), NIH | 3,106,656,351 |
| MedlinePlus.gov | MedlinePlus is a service of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), NIH | 749,193,194 |
| CDC.gov | Centers for Disease Control | 660,307,258 |
| Medicare.gov | Medicare, CMS | 367,543,681 |
| Healthcare.gov | Affordable Care Act Health care signup, CMS | 287,426,282 |
| FDA.gov | Food and Drug Administration | 186,863,469 |
| CMS.gov | Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services | 159,979,260 |
| nhlbi.nih.gov | National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, NIH | 107,060,850 |
| Cancer.gov | National Cancer Institute, NIH | 80,538,002 |
| DrugAbuse.gov | National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH | 66,539,217 |
| Niddk.nih.gov/ | National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIH | 54,036,334 |
| HHS.gov | U.S. Department of Health and Human Services | 41,470,153 |
| nimh.nih.gov | National Institute of Mental Health | 26,899,892 |
| IHS.gov | Indian Health Service | 23,260,750 |
| oig.hhs.gov | HHS Office of the Inspector General | 20,688,047 |
| SAMHSA.gov | Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration | 17,513,253 |
| womenshealth.gov | Office on Women's Health | 17,457,143 |
| NIH.gov | National Institutes of Health | 16,847,390 |
| HealthyPeople.gov | HealthyPeople.gov, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion | 15,847,245 |
| Medicaid.gov | Medicaid, CMS | 13,911,664 |
| ACF.HHS.gov | Administration for Children and Families | 13,704,754 |
| AHRQ.gov | Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality | 12,852,100 |
Estimated Modernization Cost and Schedule
Overall, the top priority sites listed above are close to compliance with current understanding of the IDEA requirements. HHS is actively estimating cost and schedule for compliance for the larger landscape of websites across HHS and expects to have a clearer cost and schedule breakdown during FY2020. HHS actively tracks and manages about 1,000 websites.