Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
A content-rich WordPress site and a searchable document library built for the independent agency that advises Congress on Medicare.
- Engaged
- 2021
- Relationship
- Ongoing
- Platform
- WordPress
- Sector
- Government
The Brief
A lot of important documents, and a site that did not make them easy to find.
MedPAC publishes the research and recommendations Congress relies on to make decisions about Medicare. The site that carried that work had outgrown itself. The old CMS made content management hard for the staff who maintain it. Search barely worked. The interface was slow and difficult enough that congressional staff and policy researchers struggled to find what they came for. And the site did not meet the accessibility standards a federal audience requires.
The Solution
A custom WordPress site, a real search experience, and a design that holds up everywhere.
We built a custom WordPress site shaped around how people actually look for MedPAC's work, with an ElasticSearch-powered document library that returns results in a hurry. WCAG 2.1 AA was the baseline, not the audit goal. The new design carried so well that MedPAC took it across their print materials too. We have hosted and cared for the site on Google Cloud since launch, and we still do.
Search & document library
A searchable library, organized the way people actually look for things.
The core of the site is the document library. Years of reports, chapters, comment letters, and presentations that congressional staff and researchers need to find on a deadline. We built it on ElasticSearch with categories and filters shaped around the way people actually search for MedPAC's work, so the right document surfaces in the first result, not the fortieth.
Design
A modern interface that ended up on their print materials too.
We modernized the look and feel of the site from the ground up, with a typographic and visual system that fits the seriousness of the work without feeling stiff. The design carried well enough beyond the web that MedPAC took it across their print materials, which is the highest compliment a design can get.
Accessibility
WCAG 2.1 AA, because a congressional audience is the audience.
For a federal advisory site, accessibility is not optional and it is not a final audit. We designed and built to WCAG 2.1 AA from the first wireframe. Color and contrast, focus order, keyboard navigation, and screen reader semantics were part of the build, not the cleanup. The site clears the standards the audience and the law expect of it.
Migration
Off the old CMS, into something staff could actually use.
Years of content moved off the legacy CMS into the new WordPress site, structured so it stays findable now and stays manageable later. The editing experience was rebuilt for the people who run the site day to day, with workflows that let staff publish updates without the technical friction that slowed the old setup down.
Managed infrastructure
Hosted, monitored, and patched since launch.
The site runs on Google Cloud in an enterprise managed environment we operate. Backups, monitoring, security protocols, and WordPress patching are handled on a regular cadence so MedPAC never has to think about where the site lives or who is watching it. The same team that built it still cares for it.
Figures
Best in Class
IMC Award, 2022
Recognized by the Interactive Media Council for design and execution.
AA
WCAG 2.1 compliance
Designed and built to the standard from day one, audited at launch and since.
5+
Years of partnership
Engaged since 2021. We built the site, and we have cared for it ever since.
Tech Stack
What it runs on.
A custom WordPress build with an ElasticSearch-powered document library, hosted on Google Cloud in an enterprise managed environment Materiell operates.
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