AUGUSTA — The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has launched the first phase of a website redesign project that will modernize the department’s online presence and improve communication about critical programs and services provided to Maine people.

DHHS has begun building a new website that’s more intuitive and useful for the public and providers, with a better design that prioritizes the information visitors most often seek, highlights updates about major initiatives and developments and improves the experience for visitors accessing the website on mobile devices.

The project, which will roll out in phases over the coming weeks and months, marks the first full redesign of the DHHS website in more than two decades.

“Maine people rely on the DHHS website for information about programs and services that are critical to their lives,” said DHHS Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew. “This project will help visitors, including mobile users in rural areas with limited internet access, find the information they need and learn about our work to support health, safety, resilience and opportunity for Maine people.”

DHHS partnered on the project with InforME, which manages the Maine.gov website and previously redesigned the websites of the Maine Emergency Management Agency, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services.

The new website includes an updated homepage for DHHS, which highlights areas of high public interest, such as hotlines and crisis numbers, health insurance, child welfare and news releases. Information on the DHHS response to the COVID-19 pandemic remains prominently displayed.

The new website also includes a redesigned homepage for the DHHS Office for Family Independence (OFI), which includes information on programs such as Food Supplement and MaineCare. The website redesign does not change how people apply for OFI programs. The application portal for those programs, My Maine Connection, is undergoing a separate project to improve applicants’ online experience.

In addition to OFI, DHHS will launch redesigned webpages for the remaining DHHS offices, such as the Office of Aging and Disability Services, the Office of MaineCare Services and the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, on a rolling basis over the next several weeks and months.

The DHHS and OFI homepages can still be found at their existing URLs: www.maine.gov/dhhs and www.maine.gov/dhhs/ofi/.