CMS touts performance of updated Medicare Plan Finder during open enrollment

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is touting several successes for its updated Medicare Plan Finder following early problems during open enrollment for 2020.

The new system saw no reported outages and had a 116% year over year increase in unique visitors to the site, according to a blog post from CMS Administrator Seema Verma. The number of page views to Medicare Plan Finder increased by 121%, Verma wrote.

"With an unprecedented level of health and drug plans and more flexible supplemental benefit options than ever before, it’s important for Medicare beneficiaries to understand what their Medicare plans offer and what works best for them," Verma wrote. "We remain committed to offering seniors the best tools to compare their options and choose a plan that fits their needs."

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The updated tool also recorded 64% fewer sessions per user during open enrollment, indicating that signups were easier, according to the post.

CMS launched a slew of updates to Medicare Plan Finder in August, with the goal of making the site easier to use. A report released earlier in 2019 by the Government Accountability Office found a number of user complaints about the platform, with just 13% of beneficiaries rating it as "easy" to use.

Medicare Plan Finder had not been updated for a decade prior. The new tool makes plan comparisons more clear and is also designed to work better on mobile platforms. Verma said in August that CMS sees updating the platform as an ongoing effort, signaling further improvements in the future.