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As part of that effort, Secretary Thompson unveiled the new name for the federal agency that runs the Medicare and joint federal-state Medicaid programs - the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, currently known as the Health Care Financing Administration. The new name reflects the increased emphasis at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on responsiveness to beneficiaries and providers, and on improving the quality of care that beneficiaries receive in all parts of Medicare and Medicaid.

To achieve these goals, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will:

• launch a national media campaign to give seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries more information to help them make decisions about how they want to get their health care;
• instill a new culture of responsiveness at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in serving beneficiaries, physicians and other health care providers, states and lawmakers;
• enhance 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) to a 24-hour a day, seven days a week service that will provide far more detailed information to help beneficiaries to make Medicare decisions;
• restructure the agency around three centers that reflect the agency's major lines of business;
• reform the contractor process to improve the quality and efficiency of the Medicare claims processing services (Medicare carriers and fiscal intermediaries) that pay nearly a billion fee-for-service Medicare claims each year.

Secretary Thompson said the new name better reflects the mission of the agency, as well as a renewed commitment to be more responsive to health care consumers and providers.

"This is only the beginning -- more changes are on the way. We're going to keep fine-tuning this department so Americans are receiving the highest quality health care possible. Our commitment to excellence is unwavering."

"We need to make sure that the people who are covered by Medicare know exactly what choices they have for their health care coverage," said Tom Scully, Medicare & Medicaid administrator. "Too many consumers just don't understand Medicare coverage options and the costs associated with them, from their Medigap options to Medicare+Choice to the cost of prescription drugs. We need to get that information to them and their family members, while working closely with the doctors and other health care providers who give them medical care."

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will launch a $35 million national media campaign in the fall of 2001 to highlight the health care options and information resources available, including www.medicare.gov and 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will also expand the capacity of the toll-free phone line with call center experts available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and develop a program with public libraries to train librarians to help Medicare beneficiaries gather information about Medicare at www.medicare.gov. The toll-free phone line currently works only during business hours.

These outreach initiatives are part of the effort to be more responsive to health care consumers and their needs. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will focus much of its attention on being responsive, accessible and understandable to beneficiaries, physicians and other health care providers, health plans, states and other stakeholders. The agency will have specific individuals dedicated to work with each state and territory in the United States, and with all organizations that work with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' stakeholders. More initiatives to improve responsiveness and outreach are in the works and will be announced in the near future.

The three new business centers being created as part of the reforms are the Center for Beneficiary Choices, the Center for Medicare Management, and the Center for Medicaid and State Operations.

The Center for Medicare Management focuses on the management of the traditional fee-for-service Medicare program, including development and implementation of payment policy and management of the Medicare carriers and fiscal intermediaries. The Center for Beneficiary Choices focuses on beneficiary education, providing beneficiaries with the information they need to make their health care decisions. This center also includes management of the Medicare+Choice program, consumer research and demonstrations, and grievance and appeals. The Center for Medicaid and State Operations focuses on programs administered by the states, including Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program, private insurance, survey and certification and the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA).

To manage the Medicare program more effectively and responsively, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will develop a legislative proposal to be submitted to Congress that would provide for competitive bidding of claims processing services. Medicare contracts with private health insurance companies to process and pay Medicare claims. Collectively, these contractors employ about 22,000 individuals and handle more than 900 million Medicare claims each year.

Currently, these contracts are governed by laws that are more restrictive than general federal contract laws. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will be working with Congress to develop legislation that will allow the agency to competitively award these contracts by using performance based incentives to improve the level of service to beneficiaries and providers, reduce administrative costs and improve efficiency.

"Contractor reform is an important part of the improvements we will be making over the next few months to serve our beneficiaries more efficiently," said Secretary Thompson. "As we improve the agency's efficiencies we will not only save the Trust Funds for taxpayers now, we will help to strengthen them for our children and grandchildren."

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