HPMS – AWS Case Study - Softrams

An effort to improve a robust and functional system through gradual modernization

The Health Plan Management System (HPMS) is a broad online tool used to manage the activities of its more than 13,000 users for the Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part C and D programs. HPMS supports data collection and reporting for the programs, as well as plan enrollment, compliance, development, and evaluation.

The Challenge

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Center for Medicare (CMS/CM), Division of Plan Data (DPD) rely on HPMS to manage data collection and plan activity for MA and Part C and D programs.

Over time, the system’s technologies and legacy tools were no longer able to effectively manage the size of the programs and policy complexity. With more than 800 active contracts of varying file sizes, processing time and subsequent process triggers were either slow-moving or altogether failing. CMS/DPD desired to modernize the system to help streamline processes and activities and support the steady accrual in user interfacing, with little disruption to the plan user community.

The Payoff

“The AWS migration was incredibly complex and had to be completed in a very short period. Softrams’ hard work, flexibility, and commitment helped CMS achieve this transition to AWS.”

– HPMS Administrator

The HPMS cloud-based, hybrid environment creates a modernized arrangement of a mature system.

At its core, the newly designed HPMS is a cloud-based environment. Its technologies straddle both legacy classics (such as ASP/ASP.NET) and an AWS tool suite, including Lambda, Step Functions, Application Load Balancer (ALB), Simple Storage Service (S3) and Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS), Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS), and Amazon Textract. The tool suite is designed to offer immediate value delivery, while managing the bridge from legacy systems to complete modernization. Softrams’ iterative Agile approach for DevSecOps supports data entry, data collection, and data transfers to operate smoothly and in compliance with company regulations.

What we did

“Despite our unusual working circumstances [due to the pandemic], this year felt like even more of a team effort than before.”

– HPMS Client Feedback, Spring 2020

We migrated all 40 HPMS modules to AWS in less than 3 months, a record time for an application of its size. With this, we implemented a continuous integration, continuous delivery (CI/CD) and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) framework for the legacy technologies. We also built 13 additional modules under the newer framework as a first step in the modernization transition. The incremental path supports the legacy technologies alongside new and modern AWS technologies.

A reliable plan of action with zero downtime

By taking incremental steps toward modernization, HPMS effectively serves its increasing user-base, while maintaining convenience, flexibility, as well as stable performance. The hybrid resolution allows users to experience positive outcomes immediately as well as in stages, offering a critical change to process management.