You Can Field Test the New Medicare.gov

Native News Network Staff in Native Health. Discussion »

WASHINGTON – Visit Medicare.gov on a smartphone or tablet and let the government know what you think. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services launched a major redesign of the Medicare.gov website with the goal of making the content more accessible and easier for beneficiaries, their families, and caregivers to understand.

Give it a test

This redesign represents three major milestones:

Mobile: The redesign of Medicare.gov is government's 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, like the Native News Network there is no longer a need for a separate mobile website, the Medicare.gov has been optimized when viewed on a mobile device.

Working Better: The migration of Medicare.gov to the Percussion content management system means that for the first time, all of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' public websites are managed using the same system. This greatly increases efficiencies and allows the federal government to reuse the same management processes across all of their websites.

People First: This redesign has 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 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Using call center questions, website analytics, and online survey results, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services identified top visitor tasks. You can now find out what Medicare covers, cost and coordination of benefits information, and find Medicare drug and health plans.

The changes take Medicare strongly in the direction laid out in the Federal Chief Information Officer's Digital Government Strategy. And the Digital Strategy will be a key driver of the web initiatives over the next 12-18 months.

Now, visit Medicare.gov on a smartphone or tablet. Let them know what you like and what they can continue to work to improve.

posted October 1, 2012 6:00 am edt