There are 2 primary sources of information for Medicare: Medicare —the
official US government site for Medicare information, and HCFA (Health
Care Financing Administration). Others are auxiliary sources that have
links to the aforementioned primary sources.
Rating: 5
This website is the ultimate consumer resource on Medicare. It has a
section on updated information (ie, What’s New?) and a 7-item menu which
includes: (1) What is Medicare, (2)Medicare Health Plans, (3)Important
Contacts, (4)Publications, (5)Wellness (6)Fraud and Abuse, and (7)Nursing
Homes. The first item defines Medicare. Medicare Health Plans provides
educational materials (in PDF format) that addresses health plan issues
(eg, Understanding your Medicare choices, Learning about Medicare health
plans, steps 1-6). Important Contacts , organized by state, provides
a table of key processes and the establishments to contact for relevant
services. Publications containts HTML or PDF documents on a variety
of topics (eg, patient rights, choosing a nursing home, guide to Medicare
medical savings account). Wellness lists various wellness programs
funded by Medicare.Fraud and Abuse gives an overview, pointers on
how to prevent and report fraud. Nursing Homes briefly tackles topics
on payment issues, questions and answers, and patient rights among other
things. Overall, this website provides information which is especially
useful for beneficiaries. The regular updates keep the interested informed.
Rating: 5
HCFA is the government entity that administers Medicare, as well as
Medicaid and Child Health Insurance Programs. It also performs quality-focused
activities which include the regulation of laboratory testing (CLIA), surveys
and certification, development of coverage policies and quality-of-care
improvement. The website has a segment called ‘In the News’ which covers
recent health policy developments relevant to HCFA’s scope of responsibility.
A side-bar has an 11-item menu which includes: (1)Medicare, (2)Medicaid,
(3)Child Health, (4)Balanced Budget Act, (5)Information Clearinghouse,
(6)Local Information, (7)Statistics and Data, (8)Research and Demonstration,
(9)Laws and Regulations, (10)Public Affairs, and (11)Freedom of Information.
There is also access to information about HCFA, Customer service, government
links and a search capability. In choosing the item on Medicare, the web
visitor is given a choice of consumer information (ie, general Medicare
information for consumers and beneficiaries) and Professional/Technical
information (specific information for researchers, analysts, doctors, etc).
Information of Medicare payment systems, Competitive Pricing Advisory Committee
(CPAC), fraud and abuse prevention, and guidelines for evaluation and management
of services are available. However, a ‘Managed Care and Medicare’ section,
when accessed led to a ‘not found’ message. This website delivers substantial
information.
Rating: 4
The name of the site indicates a more focused subject matter relative
to the preceding. The menu includes: (1)an introductory segment, (2)Initiative
for the terminally ill on Medicare, (3)Consumer publications, (4)Direct
services, (5)MRC News quarterly, (6)What’s new, (7)Press releases, (8)Policy,
(9)Medicare Assistance Plan, and (10)Links to other organizations. Press
releases do not appear to be current, but the articles on MRC News quarterly
are fairly substantive and highlight recent Medicare developments and their
impact on the consumers.
Rating: 3
This website provides general information about Medicare HMOs. In addition,
other topics on the menu include (1)Managed Care , (2)Regional information,
(3)Senior Web Center, beside the usual links to site administrative information.
The Medicare HMO category provides information on Medicare HMO listings/articles;
Medicare managed care, HCFA Medicare comparison database from HCFA, and
Medicare Web site. These are not original sources — it links to the HCFA
website. Access to the Medicare handbook, and Managed care in Medicare
and Medicaid are non-functional. The ‘Comparing HMOs’ category presents
data from the National Medicare HMO Disenrollment Study (Dec 1997), which
is not current. This is clearly a secondary source. Some may consider its
focused subject matter advantageous.
MEDPAC — Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
Rate: 4
The Physician Payment Review Commision (PPRC) was merged with the Prospective
Payment Assessment Commission to create the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
(MEDPAC) in relation to the passing of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.
The MEDPAC website is policy-oriented by virtue of its function — ie, the
Commission (composed of 15 nonpartisan members), advises Congress on Medicare
Payment policies. Through this website, the public has access to items
concerning congressional mandates, meeting schedules and agendas, transcripts
of public meetings and, also, reports to Congress. This is an important
resource for up-to-date legislative information concerning Medicare payment
issues.
| Note: The information below may contain additional relevant materials and documents. Some of the information may be duplicate. The evaluations depend on both the student doing the review and the information contained at the time of the review. Sites are subject to change! |