Choose a topic... — Current News — Subscribe to Listserve Choose a topic... — Medicare Rx Is Coming — Background — Financial Help — How to Get Involved — Questions for Patients — What Patients Must Do — Patient Resources — Provider Resources — Key Dates — Newsletters — Online Learning Course — Free Outreach Materials — Subscribe to Listserve Choose a topic... — Rx Coverage Is Ending — Don't Get Caught Without Benefit — Apply for Extra Help — Choose a Plan in October — Enroll by December 31, 2005 — Get to Know MMAP — Take These Five Steps — Key Dates — Need More Information? Choose a topic... — Overview — Medicare Rx Drug Plans Choose a topic... • Providers — Key Facts — Extra Help — Online Learning Course — Free Outreach Materials — Additional Information • Beneficiaries — Medicare Rx Drug Coverage — Enrollment — Extra Help — More Information • Newsletters • Key Dates       News Archive   Current News Medicare Drug Coverage Online Learning Course Now Available September 2005 The Medicare Drug Coverage Online Learning course is ready to help you and your colleagues understand how this pharmacy benefit change affects Medicaid and EPIC beneficiaries. Medicare's prescription drug coverage will replace the Medicaid pharmacy benefit for Michigan's low-income elderly and the disabled. Your most vulnerable patients could be without prescription drug coverage unless they take action and enroll in a plan by December 31, 2005. Do you know how to explain to your patients what they must do to maintain their prescription drug coverage? This online learning program will provide you with the information you need to help them. Click here to go to Medicare Drug Coverage Online Learning. For an optimal online learning experience, we recommend you access the course on a PC with the Windows XP operating system, Internet Explorer browser 6.0 or higher, and Java Runtime Environment 1.5. How to Register for Online Learning Enter http://learning.mihealth.org/SOLO into your Browser Click on the “First Time User” Button Complete the Required Fields and Password on the Self Registration Form and click on the register button. Write down your ID and Password. Return to: http://learning.mihealth.org/SOLO Enter your ID and Password and click on the GO button. Once at the initial page, you need to go to the far right corner and click on the “My Learning Path” button. This takes you to the Medicare Drug Coverage Course. There are three pages of courses as indicated by the 1, 2, 3 below the name of the course. Click on the page number until you find the Medicare Drug Coverage Course. Click on Medicare Drug Coverage and begin. Click here to register for the Medicare Drug Coverage Online Learning course or go to http://learning.mihealth.org/SOLO. » Back to Top FREE Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage Outreach Materials September 2005 If you would like to distribute outreach materials to your staff and patients, the Michigan Medicare Medicaid Assistance Program will provide you the materials free of charge. All you need to do is fill out the order form and fax it to MMAP. Click here to download the PDF order form. Supplies are limited so order soon. » Back to Top CMS Previews Online Tool to Compare Drug Costs August 2005 CMS on Tuesday previewed an Internet tool that allows Medicare beneficiaries to compare medication prices based on the individuals' health plans and personal information, TechnologyDaily reports. The tool, which will be available Oct. 15, will coincide with CMS's roll-out of the new Part D prescription drug benefit. CMS Administrator Mark McClellan said the tool is designed to ensure that "every person with Medicare is able to get the information they need ... to make decisions about the new, voluntary drug coverage." The tool will allow registered users to input personal information, which will allow the program to compare drug costs, deductibles and premiums, TechnologyDaily reports (TechnologyDaily, 8/2). » Back to Top Low Response Rate for Extra Help July 2005 If an initial test run of next year's Medicare drug coverage launch is any indication, only 40 percent of low-income people eligible will sign up for the plan, the Associated Press reported. The government's recent test mailing of applications to 2,050 Medicare recipients was meant to gauge whether people could successfully complete and return the application. Only two in five did so, and that was only after the government called the recipients on the phone, the wire service said. A spokesman for the agency that oversaw the mailing, the U.S. Social Security Administration, said about 25 percent who didn't return the application believed their income exceeded the limit. Another 25 percent said they already had prescription drug coverage, and the remainder either didn't remember getting the application or lost it, the spokesman said. The benefit is valued at about $2,300 per year per recipient, the wire service said. » Back to Top Michigan AG Warns Seniors About Medicare Drug Scam June 2005 Complaints received by the Michigan Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division indicate that scam artists are calling seniors urging them to enroll in the Medicare prescription drug benefit plan, or alerting them that their Medicare card will expire shortly. Callers are seeking personal information including bank account, credit card, and social security numbers. A detailed Consumer Alert on telemarketing fraud and this new Medicare prescription drug benefit scam is available on the Michigan Attorney General's Web site: www.michigan.gov/ag. » Back to Top Pharmacy Benefit Change to Affect Medicaid and EPIC Beneficiaries June 2005 Change is coming from Medicare and it will impact your Michigan Medicaid patients that are disabled or elderly. Medicare’s new prescription drug program is replacing Medicaid’s pharmacy benefit for the disabled, for low-income adults over 65 years, and for EPIC (Elder Prescription Insurance Coverage) participants. » Back to Top Medicare to Provide Financial Help for People with Limited Resources June 2005 Medicare’s new drug coverage program provides substantial financial assistance for Michigan’s dual eligible (Medicare and Medicaid) population and for people with limited financial resources. Beginning May 27, Medicare, in cooperation with Social Security, will begin mailing applications to provide extra financial help to people with limited resources who are eligible for the new Medicare prescription drug coverage program. » Back to Top Subscribe to E-mail Updates about Medicare Drug Coverage June 2005 Stay in touch with late breaking news and more information about Medicare Drug Coverage. By subscribing to the Trading Partners listserve, you will receive the latest information in your e-mail about the new Medicare prescription drug program. This information is a free service from Michigan Medicaid and the Michigan Department of Community Health. We encourage all of our trading partners to subscribe, especially pharmacists, doctors, and nurses. Subscribe to Listserve » Back to Top Seniors Look to Doctors and Pharmacists for Help June 2005 According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll, Seniors will overwhelmingly look to their physician (49%) and pharmacist (33%) for help in making a decision about Medicare Drug Coverage. http://kff.org/healthpollreport/apr_2005/10.cfm » Back to Top President Bush Introduces Medicare Pharmacy Benefit June 2005 WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush kicked off a nationwide campaign on Thursday, telling older people to circle November 15 on their calendars. That's when they can enroll for the new prescription drug coverage under Medicare. On Friday, Bush will visit Maple Grove, Minnesota, where he will visit a senior center. "Starting this November, every American on Medicare can sign up to get help paying for their prescription drugs," Bush said Thursday in a speech at the Health and Human Services Department. Starting October 1, information about the prescription drug coverage will be available to 42 million older people as well as people with developmental and physical disabilities and mental illnesses and HIV/AIDS. Enrollment starts November 15, and the benefit begins January 1. "Seniors can choose to take advantage of the benefit or they can choose not to. It's up to them," said Bush, who used the presidential podium to help spread the word about the new Medicare prescription drug benefit. "There's plenty of time to make the decision" with enrollment between November 15 and May 15 of next year, the president said. "Beneficiaries should make their decisions as soon as they are ready, because enrolling before May will ensure that they pay the lowest possible premiums," Bush said. During the next 11 months, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, state and local leaders and others will work to get out information about the benefit. » Back to Top ©2005 MPHI. All rights reserved.