The project will facilitate a community stakeholder-centered design process to build and test an information and outreach model to help older adults make informed retirement and healthcare decisions through connections to trusted community-based resources.

Project objectives

The project aims to increase the accessibility and availability of holistic resources at existing touchpoints (such as community-based organizations); raise awareness about local resources; and reduce the burden on older adults as they are making retirement and healthcare decisions. As a result, individuals will more easily determine the correct steps for their situations.

December 2023 update

The team led the project through a complete design phase, which included designing two concepts to support older adults, their caregivers, and frontline staff: an integrated Federal resource guide and a community of practice. The team developed the concepts from sketches to prototypes throughout nine co-design sessions with national and community-based organizations and 11 cross-agency workshops. The prototypes create a foundation for agencies to transcend separate functions or departments and collaborate in new ways, which should lead to more systemic and customer-centered interventions.

• The resource guide consolidates information on resources and benefits from seven agencies to help older adults, caregivers, and frontline staff make informed decisions about healthcare, finances, housing, and nutrition. It consists of modules including Federal benefits and services available, rules and considerations for eligibility, how and where to apply, and where to turn for personalized assistance. The project team developed the content collaboratively with input from HHS (both ACL and CMS), CFPB, HUD, SSA, and USDA. The team completed usability testing with six frontline staff and six members of the public.
• The Community of Practice is a community of staff who support older adults to connect with Federal staff who work in senior-focused programs. It will center around learning through engagement, with topics that strengthen Federal understanding of how programs can better connect to on-the-ground needs, and will focus solutions on specific outreach challenges or communities that are hard to reach. The project team created a prototype of the Community of Practice and tested it through a desirability survey.

In FY 2024, the Administration for Community Living (ACL) at HHS will lead the pilot phase for both concepts. ACL will launch digital and translated versions of the resource guide and pilot an in-depth pilot with select community-based-organizations. Additionally, ACL will pilot a year of quarterly Community of Practice sessions, hosted collaboratively by Federal agency partners across Government.

Milestones

Measures of success

Key outcomes:

The project’s success is defined by its ability to reduce customer navigation burden and duplicative processes, connect older adults to streamlined information available across a variety of Federal agencies and programs, and improve the ability of older adults to make informed choices that work for them.

Design phase project measures:

The project focuses on improving the customer experience for individuals who are 65 and eligible for Medicare but are not yet receiving Social Security Retirement benefits. Currently, customers determine their eligibility for Medicare using information primarily from CMS and then navigate to SSA.gov to enroll.

Project objectives

As people approach retirement, they commonly make time-sensitive decisions about Federal retirement benefits and their health coverage. The decision-making process requires that people navigate multiple Federal websites to understand their choices and how to enroll. While some older adults are automatically enrolled in Medicare based on past retirement benefit selections, an increasing number of people enroll through SSA when they turn 65. Interviewed customers expressed difficulty self-navigating across Federal, social sector, and private entity websites; this disjointed network can result in missed benefits, a burdensome user experience, and sometimes monetary penalties.

This iterative, multi-phase project will begin enhancing the customer experience by improving Medicare content and information on SSA.gov and Medicare.gov. Subsequently, the project will further develop improvements to modernize and streamline the Medicare-only application process.

December 2023 update

In early 2023, the team conducted an extended scoping effort to identify near-term and longer-term improvements that could enhance the customer experience enrolling in Medicare-only at age 65. The team began by improving content and page design on SSA.gov and Medicare.gov. They also explored options for more process design improvements as individuals navigate the two websites and enrollment steps.

The team completed secondary research to understand when and how customers enroll in Medicare and the pain points that some people experience. The team conducted stakeholder interviews with staff from SSA operations and CMS Medicare.gov; they also shadowed telephone appointments for customers enrolling in Medicare through SSA. The team also reviewed existing reports that address improving customer experiences.

After this extended scoping phase, the team paused the effort for now due to SSA’s concerns with its resources and capacity to continue the work in the near term. The team’s work to date—including on customer insights, potential solutions to modernize and streamline the Medicare-only application process, and the in-depth confirmatory research needed to support those solutions—will inform future efforts. Additional information is provided below.

Milestones

Measures of success

Key outcomes:

This project aims to see a measurable reduction in the time spent between customers’ decision to begin the Medicare enrollment process and when the coverage begins. Project success depends on its ability to reduce customer navigation burden, minimize duplication, and effectively communicate the steps to enroll in Medicare.