CMS Launches Three-Year Project to Manage Care, Provide Drug Benefit for Some Chronically Ill Medicare Beneficiaries

Some chronically ill Medicare beneficiaries will be able to participate in a new disease management project that coordinates their care and covers the cost of their prescription drugs, the Washington Post reports. The three-year demonstration project will be offered to beneficiaries with advanced-stage congestive heart failure, diabetes or coronary heart disease (Washington Post, 2/22). The project aims to give beneficiaries coordinated care rather than "fragmented and costly" services from many providers at different locations, the AP/Richmond Times-Dispatch reports (AP/Richmond Times-Dispatch, 2/22). Under the demonstration project, the federal government will pay disease management organizations a monthly premium that will cover the coordination of patient care and the cost of prescription drugs. The project requires each organization to "improve health outcomes" and decrease Medicare expenditures. HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson said, "This demonstration can help us learn how well these programs work and how best to make these services available to Medicare beneficiaries" (CMS release, 2/21).