CMS SELECTS SITES FOR DEMONSTRATION SEEKING WAYS TO REDUCE DISPARITIES IN CANCER HEALTH CARE

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced the selection of sites for six demonstration projects to improve the early detection and treatment of cancer and reduce health disparities among minority Medicare beneficiaries.

“Medicare has the best coverage ever for preventing deaths through earlier detection and treatment, but we still have a big gap in using these treatments, especially for our minority beneficiaries,” said CMS Administrator Dr. Mark McClellan. “These new programs will support our key goal of better quality of care and reduced health disparities for people with Medicare.”

Minority groups in the demonstration include American Indians, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, African Americans, and Hispanic Americans. This demonstration project was authorized under Section 122 of the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000.

CMS has selected the following awardees/sites:

Target Population	Demonstration Awardee	Demonstration Site
American Indian	Huntsman Cancer Institute	3 tribal locations in north central Montana, 11 tribal locations throughout Utah
Asian American and Pacific Islander	Molokai General Hospital	Molokai, Hawaii
Hispanic - Mexican American	University of Texas	Harris County and Houston, Texas
Hispanic - Puerto Rican	New Jersey Medical School	Newark, New Jersey
African American	Johns Hopkins University	Baltimore City, Maryland
African American	Josephine Ford Cancer Center	Oakland, Macomb and Wayne Counties (including Detroit), Michigan

The demonstration projects will help over 13,000 minority Medicare beneficiaries “navigate” the health care system in a more timely and informative manner. The services provided under this demonstration will help participants overcome barriers to three components of cancer care—screening, diagnosis, and treatment. Project sites will provide services to help participants schedule timely appointments for cancer screening and, if needed, follow-up diagnostic testing.

The sites also will provide services to support participants with cancer in adhering to treatment regimens. Other services that may be provided include assistance with transportation, translation or interpretation, and care coordination.

The demonstration will run for four years and targets breast, cervical, colorectal, and prostate cancers. Through participation in these demonstration projects, beneficiaries will receive more timely cancer screening tests, diagnoses, and treatments, have improved access to care, and experience greater satisfaction with the health care system.

“We need to make sure that all of our beneficiaries, regardless of their background, get these important and lifesaving cancer treatments that Medicare covers,” Dr. McClellan said. “Reducing disparities in cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment is essential to improving quality of care for people with Medicare, and this demonstration will allow us to determine the effectiveness of the navigator model to achieve this.”

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