CMS Web Experience and Content Management Services
A more connected experience across CMS
Millions of people turn to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) websites to understand their health care options, find information, and make decisions about their care. Behind those visits is a network of websites, tools, and data portals that needs to work together. But CMS’ digital portfolio had grown across different technologies and content environments. Aging applications and proprietary platforms made modernization more complex, while inconsistent experiences created opportunities to better serve beneficiaries, caregivers, providers, and CMS staff. Through Web Experience and Content Management Services (WECMS), CMS set out to modernize that portfolio. As a subcontractor, Systone helped lead the product and delivery teams moving that work forward across Medicare.gov, CMS.gov, and related applications and data portals.
What We Built
Start with the whole experience
A person’s needs rarely begin and end on a single page. Across the WECMS team, existing research, website analytics, and stakeholder interviews informed personas and journey maps that showed how people interacted with CMS’ digital services. Those insights helped teams connect individual website improvements to the broader experience, with design decisions grounded in what different audiences needed to accomplish.
Make complex delivery manageable
Modernizing multiple websites and applications required close coordination across CMS stakeholders, vendors, and disciplines. Systone’s product managers, project managers, Scrum Masters, and business analysts helped teams translate that complexity into focused, iterative work. Two-week sprints, stakeholder feedback, and regular retrospectives allowed teams to adjust priorities, resolve issues, and deliver improvements as needs evolved.
Give essential tools a stronger foundation
The broader team migrated websites and open data portals to Drupal and DKAN, replacing aging proprietary platforms with open-source technology. Legacy calculators, directories, and lookup tools were examined feature by feature to support their rebuilding within the modernized environment. This work required understanding existing functionality, filling documentation gaps, and protecting continuity of service for the people who depended on these tools.
Support the people behind the contentThe experience of maintaining a website matters to the people using it. The team improved content editing capabilities and developed reusable templates and content types to help CMS staff manage information more consistently. Training and documentation supported adoption, while collaboration with internal stakeholders helped align improvements with publishing workflows and content governance needs.
Build quality into ongoing delivery
Responsive design, mobile usability testing, and accessibility reviews helped teams address how people accessed CMS services across devices and abilities. Automated testing and deployment pipelines supported reliable releases, while security monitoring and ongoing maintenance supported daily operations. Quality checks remained part of the modernization work as the portfolio evolved.
What We Changed
WECMS helped CMS move toward a more consistent digital experience supported by modern platforms, reusable capabilities, and coordinated delivery. Improvements served both the people seeking health care information and the CMS teams responsible for keeping that information useful and current. During Option Year 1, the WECMS team reported 99% of tests automated, zero failed deployments, and zero defects reported in production after releases. These results reflect the broader delivery team’s work, supported by Systone’s product and agile delivery leadership. By connecting user needs with the day-to-day decisions that move complex work forward, we helped CMS modernize essential digital services while continuing to support the people who rely on them.