Watch the Mail for CMA Brochure on New Medicare Drug Benefit
[Posted 09/22/05]

Physicians who treat Medicare patients will next month receive in the mail a brochure developed by CMA to help them understand Medicare’s new prescription drug coverage and answer patients’ questions about the program.

All Medicare patients will soon receive enrollment information about the new Medicare prescription drug coverage program. Enrollment begins November 15. The benefit starts January 1, 2006. Because they trust you, your senior patients will inevitably come to you with questions about the program. They will want advice about the drug plans and which plans cover their medications. CMA knows this will place an enormous burden on physicians who already have insufficient time to spend with patients. We have discussed this at length with federal officials.

CMA’s eight-page brochure is an initial step in helping you shoulder that burden. Please feel free to copy the brochure for your patients. The back cover – with “basic facts” and key contact information—was designed specifically for use as a one-page patient flyer.

CMA is also aware that the Medicare formulary system is problematic for physicians and we want to ease the hassle-factor for you. CMA is working to make available to physicians a web-based tool that can be used when prescribing for Medicare patients. The tool will enable CMA members to quickly determine which specific drugs in a class are covered by a patient’s Medicare plan.

Click here to download a PDF copy of CMA's brochure.

Contact: Elizabeth McNeil, 415/882-3376 or emcneil@cmanet.org.