News
Medicare Partnership Campaign
SHIP MMA Forum Call - November 13 (11/07/07)
Partner Fact Sheet (8/28/07)
Premium Withhold Letter (8/28/07)
Social Security Letters (05/17/07)
CMS Power Point Presentation on the Prevention Tour (04/10/07)
CMS Guidance on Premium withhold (03/30/07)
MEDICARE DRUG PLANS STRONG AND GROWING (01/30/07)
Medicare Diabetes Tip Sheet for Partners (11/28/06)
Area Agency on Aging 1-B wins award (6/9/2006)
More Time to Fill the Prescriptions You Need! (Off Site) (02/21/05)
On February 1, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt announced that plans would be extending the 30-day transitional drug coverage period,
extending it from the 30-day period to an additional sixty (60) more days. That means that the plans are providing a full ninety (90) days of drug coverage
(through March 31, 2006).
Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage Outreach Materials (Off Site) (10/31/05) Medicare Provides Tools to Help Local Partners Prepare Beneficiaries for Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage (10/17/05) Medicare Training Resources (PDF) (10/14/05) Medicare Expands Efforts to Fight Fraud (PDF - Off Site) (10/14/05) Help is Here — Training Resources (PDF) (10/06/05) New Drug Coverage Includes Options for Additional Benefits and Saving Money - Cost, Coverage and Convenience Can Be Focus of Choice (PDF) (09/30/05) Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Approvals - September 30, 2005 (Off Site) (09/30/05) Major Step Toward 2006 Drug Benefit; Issues Approval to Plans Offering Coverage Press Release (PDF) Map Coverage (Off Site) (09/23/05) Natl Conf Call - Medicare Prescription Drug Education and Outreach Campaign — Agenda & Resource Materials (09/22/05) DHHS-Katrina Poster/Flyer (09/21/05) CMS Issues MMA Prescription Drug Consumer Protection Fact Sheet (09/01/05) CMS Issues Marketing Rules For All Plans Offering Medicare Drug Coverage (CMS - Offsite) (08/16/05)
Area Agency on Aging 1-B wins award
 The Area Agency on Aging 1-B (AAA 1-B), serving the southeast Michigan counties of Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair and Washtenaw, has been actively involved in hosting numerous Part D enrollment days in the community to help beneficiaries through one-on-one appointments with a trained counselor to review and compare plan options and assist them with joining the new Medicare prescription drug benefit.
The AAA 1-B spent a significant amount of time establishing partnerships with key organizations across the six county area to establish the assistance days including Beaumont Hospitals, Oakland County Administration, and the Livingston County Department of Public Health. Additionally, the AAA 1-B has helped a significant number of beneficiaries through telephone counseling. Since November 15, 2005, the AAA 1-B has conducted over 40 Medicare Drug Plan Assistance Days, and through these events and telephone counseling has assisted over 19,500 persons in making this choice."
Medicare Handbook Error Packages
MEDICARE PROVIDES TOOLS TO HELP LOCAL PARTNERS PREPARE BENEFICIARIES FOR MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG COVERAGE
Prescription Drug Plan Finder Newest Tool Prescription Drug Plan Finder Newest Tool Medicare partners will have additional resources available to help them inform and educate people about the new prescription drug coverage, including a new Prescription Drug Plan Finder, well before enrollment begins on November 15. Soon, beneficiaries and their family members will be able to use these tools to make better decisions about their Medicare drug coverage. For more information you may click on the CMS link located at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicarereform/moreinformation.asp
or you may go to the Medicare.gov link at http://www.medicare.gov/medicarereform/drugbenefit.asp Also, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has created an online resource, Landscape of Local Plans . This resource helps you find Medicare prescription drug plans by state or Medicare Advantage plans with prescription drug coverage by county. It lets you see the plans in your area that offer drug coverage, including basic information to help you find ones that meet your needs based on cost, coverage, and convenience. The Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder will show you a list of drug plans in your area, sorted by the plan with the lowest total cost for the drugs you take now.
DHHS-Katrina Poster/Flyer This poster has been designed so that it can be customized with local contact information for DHHS programs that do not use one central help line. Here’s how to customize the poster for your local needs:
- The file has three drop-down lists which must be used to customize the poster for local use. All three have the title "( SELECT STATE FROM DROP-DOWN LIST)." These three drop-down lists contain current help line numbers for: Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), Medicaid, and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
- For each list, click on the right-hand side of the list (Look for a down triangle) scroll to the information for your state, and then select the state with a mouse click.
- If local phone number information changes, you may manually edit the phone information. Formatting should be maintained (i.e., full state name, dashes for phone numbers, 800 numbers to start with a "1-", etc.).
NOTE: Changes to the file can be saved ONLY if you have Adobe Acrobat Standard or Professional. Otherwise you will need to repeat the steps above each time the file is opened. The file is compatible with Adobe Acrobat version 5.0 and greater, and has successfully been tested with version 3.01.
CMS Issues MMA Prescription Drug Consumer Protection Fact Sheet The new Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit provides an unprecedented opportunity to get seniors much needed help. The Aging Network and community-based organizations are prime vehicles for reaching out to and gaining access to seniors to describe the new benefit and help seniors choose a plan that is right for them. This critical role also makes these agencies a target for the many honest and the handful of dishonest companies attempting to gain access to seniors. As preparations for the new drug benefit continue at a brisk pace, there have been several reports of potentially inappropriate activities from several different states, including a report in one state of an insurance salesman pressing a local senior center to let him set up a time to sign up seniors for the new prescription drug plans.
Be aware that while legitimate plan applicants are allowed to "educate" consumers about the general Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit at this time and may state that they have "applied" to be a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan and have submitted a bid and formulary to CMS for consideration; yet, they are NOT allowed to market or discuss enrollment in their specific plan or identify themselves as a Medicare "Approved" Prescription Drug Plan until October 1st. CMS has recently released a Fact Sheet for consumers warning them about the issue of identity theft, and providing specific steps for protecting personal information. You are encouraged to download this publication and use it to educate your staff and the consumers you serve at:
Centers for Beneficiary Choices-Webcast entitled “Your First Look at Finding a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan on the Web” You are invited to view and participate in a CMS-sponsored webcast on Tuesday August 2, 2005 at 1:00 PM Eastern Time. The webcast will provide a preview of the navigation and information to be provided through the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder tool when it is launched in October 2005. The Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder will provide people with Medicare the information they need to join a Prescription Drug Plan that meets their needs. The purpose of the web cast is to get feedback from the various stakeholder groups interested in the implementation of Medicare prescription drug coverage. The webcast details are as follows:
Date: Tuesday, August 2, 2005
Title: “Your First Look at Finding a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan on the Web”
Time: 1:00 PM EST
URL: http://videocast.nih.gov/ To participate in the webcast log on to the URL above, hosted by National Institutes of Health (NIH), about 5-10 minutes before 1:00 PM on August 2nd. Once at the site, select the link titled “Your First Look at Finding a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan on the Web” that will be available under “Today’s Events.” Participants of this webcast are encouraged to submit questions or suggestions by phone, fax or e-mail during the webcast. We hope you will be able to join us as we demonstrate the prototype of the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder.
PowerPoint Presentations for the June 29 SHIP MMA Forum Call
Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage- "It's all coming together" June 16, 2005 Today, June 16, 2005, marks a significant day for Medicare, as President Bush, joined by Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and CMS Administrator Dr. Mark McClellan, hosted a “Medicare Covers America” kickoff rally at the Hubert Humphrey Federal Building in Washington, D.C. The rally launched a new stage in the national effort to get comprehensive drug coverage to the more than 42 million people with Medicare who need help paying for their prescription drugs. A live web cast of the Press Conference can be viewed at: http://videocast.nih.gov Medicare is partnering with many state and local organizations, as well as patient advocacy groups, to launch a national grassroots education campaign to give people with Medicare good information and good advice about Medicare’s new drug coverage before it takes effect on January 1, 2006. We need your help in spreading the word about how the drug benefit will help individuals pay for the drugs they need. This new help is available to everyone with Medicare, no matter how they pay for their drugs today, and extra help is available for those with limited resources. This new coverage includes brand-name and generic drugs and is available through both neighborhood and mail-order pharmacies. Please join us in this grassroots education effort by forwarding this email notice to other organizations that share our commitment to helping millions of America’s seniors and people with a disability with their prescription drug costs. For outreach resource materials and partner information, please visit our website “Partner Center” at: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/partnerships/ Detailed information from Medicare will be available in October 2005. For more information on who can get extra help with prescription drug costs and how to apply, call the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213, or visit www.socialsecurity.gov on the web. TTY users should call 1-800-325-0778.
Strengthening our Partnership at a Critical Time June 15, 2005
The Administration on Aging (AoA) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced on a national conference call to Aging and SHIP community providers an enhanced partnership to learn more about the new benefits provided under the Medicare Modernization and Improvement Act of 2003. We are strengthening our partnership at a critical time. These coming months will be the most important in the history of Medicare. The most important, in terms of turning Medicare from a program that helps pay the bills when beneficiaries get sick and have complications from their chronic illnesses, into a program that is their partner in helping them take advantage of the best prevention-oriented treatments that modern medicine has to offer, but until now Medicare has not covered. That includes screening tests, and programs to help people with chronic diseases and frailty get better continuity of care and, of course, prescription drugs. These are the most important months in the history of Medicare, in terms of giving seniors real help with the costs of prescription drugs. Through the AoA and CMS partnership, the Aging Services Network will play an integral role with us in reaching many people with Medicare to help them lower their medical costs, improve their financial security, and especially, stay healthier as a result of the new Medicare coverage.
A Message from the Assistant Secretary for Aging:
June 8, 2005
The organizations within the Aging Services Network are central partners with the U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) as we help Medicare beneficiaries access new benefits under the Medicare Modernization and Improvement Act of 2003 (MMA).
As part of the MMA, AoA, CMS and SSA are working together to provide persons with limited income and resources extra help paying for their prescription drugs. CMS Administrator Dr. Mark McClellan has issued a call to all of the CMS partners, including AoA and the Aging Services Network to join him in his commitment to making sure that everyone who qualifies for extra help gets it.
June 7, 2005
June 6, 2005 |
