• Troubleshooting Medicare: Help HAP Identify and Address Systemic Issues Affecting Medicare Beneficiaries
• July Conference Call: Working Together To Help Medicare Beneficiaries
• HAP Conference Call "Shout Out" Now Available
• HAP Submits Comments on Model ANOC/EOC
• Get Involved! United We Serve 

• Scam Alert: Medicare Scam Targeting Physician Offices

Interesting Items

• Efforts Made to Help Curb Rising Costs under Medicare Part D

HAP's Extra Hand Follow-up to June’s Advisory Alert on QMB Cost-Sharing

Troubleshooting Medicare: Help HAP Identify and Address Systemic Issues Affecting Medicare Beneficiaries
HAP has developed a new web-based tool as part of our recently launched project to help Medicare beneficiaries and improve the Medicare program as a whole.

The tool, or Issue Log, will help HAP identify the persistent and systemic issues affecting Medicare beneficiaries. The information collected will be used to develop trainings for the SHIP network and will inform recommendations to policy makers on how to address and resolve the issues. To access the tool and start logging issues now, email us to receive a username and password! Please include the following information in your email:

• Your first and last name
• Your state and county
• The name of your organization
• Your role (i.e., SHIP Director, coordinator, counselor)

The client experiences you provide will form the basis of the project, and will directly inform HAP’s work to improve access to care and quality of care for consumers across the Medicare program. Please note that the information you share with HAP, including a client or a SHIP program’s identifying details, will not be publicly released.

In the meantime, if you have any questions about the project, or suggestions on the issues we should be pursuing, please email us.

July Conference Call: Working Together To Help Medicare Beneficiaries
HAP’s July Conference Call will be held on July 22 at 3 p.m. EDT, instead of the usual third Wednesday of the month.

This call will focus on various ways HAP and the SHIPs can work together to improve the lives of Medicare beneficiaries, particularly through public education activities. We will also talk in greater detail about our new project, Troubleshooting Medicare, which was developed to improve the Medicare program by working with SHIPs to identify and address systemic issues frequently encountered by beneficiaries.

As always, we will send an eAlert with more details on how to join. Stay tuned!

HAP Conference Call “Shout Out” Now Available
During our conference call in June, HAP introduced a new feature - the SHIP Shout Out. HAP recognized that while we usually maintain a steady flow of conversation during the calls, we want everyone on the call to feel comfortable sharing their thoughts. Hence, the SHIP Shout Out - an opportunity at the end of the call for participants to anonymously shout out their thoughts, questions, comments, or concerns!

Within a week of the conference call, HAP will post a SHIP Shout Out follow-up page, which will provide responses to the issues you raised during the Shout Out.

We value your input, so please let us know what you think about this new feature, or how we can improve future calls. One of the main benefits of having a monthly conference call is to share experiences across the SHIP network. HAP looks forward to continuing to build on this effort to learn from each other!

HAP Submits Comments on Model ANOC/EOC
Each year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provides model versions of the mailings that Medicare Advantage (MA) plans and Prescription Drug Plans (PDPs) must send to current and potential enrollees. CMS recently released two draft versions of these mailings - the Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) and Evidence of Coverage (EOC) - for public comments.

What are these mailings? The ANOC provides current plan enrollees general information about the changes to their plan in the following plan year. It also gives instructions for making a decision about enrollment into a new plan. The EOC, in contrast, offers information about coverage and plan rules for that plan for the following year. MA and PDP plans send the ANOC and EOC together in one mailing to enrollees each fall. For many plan enrollees, this ANOC/EOC mailing is a main source for plan comparison and decision-making.

Using what we’ve learned from conversations with SHIPs, HAP partnered with other Medicare advocates to develop and submit comments on the draft ANOC/EOC documents that focused on making these documents as clear, concise, and user-friendly as possible for Medicare beneficiaries.

We will continue to make your needs and the concerns of your clients known to CMS. If you have questions about HAP’s comments, or if you have suggestions for further improvements to CMS’s manuals, please contact us.

Get Involved! United We Serve
President Obama is calling on all Americans to volunteer and make a difference in their communities. He recently announced his new summer service initiative, United We Serve, and asked people of all ages to volunteer with organizations just like yours.

Now is the time to take advantage of the attention that this campaign is drawing to volunteerism and community service - and promote your SHIP. Use HAP’s Volunteer Recruitment Toolkit to help broadcast your volunteer opportunities and to recruit new volunteers for your SHIP!

Also, take a minute to post your volunteer opportunities on the United We Serve website. Millions of people will use this website to find a great place to volunteer. Why not have your SHIP set anchor there too!

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HAP's Extra Hand

Follow-up to June’s Advisory Alert on QMB Cost-Sharing
Last month HAP highlighted a persistent issue affecting Qualified Medicare Beneficiaries (QMBs). SHIP counselors and other advocates are increasingly reporting providers billing QMBs for Medicare Advantage (MA) plan copayments, even though the practice is against the law. HAP urges SHIPs not only to share this recent finding on QMBs’ rights with their counselors, but also to be on the lookout for this on-going problem.

If your SHIP has heard from QMB clients running into this problem, email us your stories and tell us how your SHIP is working to assist the beneficiary. Recently a SHIP counselor shared her success story with HAP, and we would like to pass on her tool to other SHIPs. We are sharing a modified national version of her letter as one possible resource you can use to secure reimbursements from providers for QMB clients.

In the coming weeks, HAP will work to raise awareness of the issue with CMS’s Office of Medicare Ombudsman Office (OMO) and will report back to you on what we learn. In the meantime, HAP encourages SHIPs to follow up on any provider issues with both their CMS regional office and their state Medicaid office, unless your state has another procedure in place.