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Home > About Us > Press Releases > HHS Awards $9.3 Million for Senior Medicare Patrol Projects |
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Press Releases Contact: Moya Benoit Thompson or Chris Rhatigan 202-401-4541 HHS Awards $9.3 Million for Senior Medicare Patrol Projects The 52 Senior Medicare Patrol Project grants administered by the Administration on Aging (AoA) include four new projects in Kentucky, New Jersey, Tennessee, and West Virginia, and 48 renewed grants distributed in 43 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. "These projects are helping older Americans better understand their Medicare billing statements, so that they can take appropriate steps to correct errors," Secretary Thompson said. "Through these kinds of programs, beneficiaries can play an important role in helping the Medicare program avoid unintended errors and detect deliberate abuses." Over the past four years, the AoA has worked with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (formerly the Health Care Financing Administration), the HHS Office of Inspector General, the Department of Justice, Medicare contractors, health care providers, and others to develop programs that train volunteer retired professionals such as doctors, nurses, accountants, investigators, law enforcement personnel, attorneys, and teachers to serve as resources and educators for older persons in their communities. Senior volunteers undergo several days of training reviewing health care benefit statements and outlining the steps seniors can take to protect themselves. Volunteers work in local senior centers and other places where older persons gather teaching beneficiaries such skills as how to treat their Medicare number as they would their credit cards, how to use journals to keep track of their medical services and health care instructions, how to read their Medicare notices, and how to get answers to billing questions they may have. Following is a list of new Senior Medicare Patrol Project Grants and the amount of each award: Kentucky Association of Senior Service Corps Programs, Elizabethtown - $164,176. This statewide organization that provides volunteers through 19 National Senior Service Corps Programs (nine RSVP, six Foster Grandparent, and four Senior Companion Programs) will recruit and train volunteers to educate and inform Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries in approximately 40 counties across the state. Jewish Family & Vocational Services of Middlesex County, Edison, N.J. - $180,000. A partnership between Jewish Family and Vocational Services of Middlesex County, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, the Office of the Ombudsman for the Institutionalized Elderly, and the New Jersey Chapter of AARP to improve the quality of health care for senior citizens through the use of trained retired persons as volunteers. Upper Cumberland Development District Area Agency on Aging, Cookeville, Tenn. - $180,000. The Tennessee Aging Network Consortium of nine Area Agencies on Aging, 135 senior centers, 9 long-term care ombudsmen programs, nine legal assistance programs, the State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP), AARP members, and other partners will coordinate federal, state, local and private resources on a statewide effort to recruit and train volunteers. West Virginia University Center on Aging, Morgantown - $180,000. To form a partnership with the West Virginia Bureau of Senior Services, four Area Agencies on Aging, seven Senior Centers, and the West Virginia Chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons to recruit and train volunteers throughout West Virginia. Following is a list of the 48 continuation Senior Medicare Patrol Project Grants: Alabama Commission on Aging, Montgomery |
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