Statement On CMS Announcement Regarding Phase I Of Medicare Health Support - DMAA: The Care Continuum Alliance

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 31 Jan 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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Statement attributable to: Tracey Moorhead, President and Chief Executive Officer, DMAA: The Care Continuum Alliance

"Tens of thousands of chronically ill Medicare beneficiaries today face a distressing gap in access to valuable support services for managing their conditions. These beneficiaries, as well as their providers and family caregivers, enthusiastically welcomed these services, as evidenced by participation rates, satisfaction measures and a demonstrated willingness to take important steps toward better health.

"Ending Phase I of Medicare Health Support without ensuring continuity of these services as regulators consider movement toward Phase II will strand the many chronically ill fee-for-service beneficiaries who most need coordinated care. These beneficiaries, among Medicare's most costly, require and deserve high-quality, targeted care tailored to the extraordinary demands of their conditions.

"Their physicians, likewise, suffer with this decision by CMS. As part of the physician-led care team, Medicare Health Support Organizations provide day-to-day, evidence-based management of chronically ill patients--invaluable support that a busy practice can ill-afford to lose.

"DMAA urges federal regulators to move on an accelerated track toward Phase II and ensure continued provision and expansion of needed chronic care services for our nation's elderly.

"We also request an expeditious, thorough review of the documented shortcomings of the pilot's design and execution, including participant selection and randomization. The CMS position that Phase I failed to meet statutory requirements is not supported by last year's interim report, which found insufficient evidence for any firm conclusion about the pilot's performance and noted significant disparities between the control and intervention groups and other critical flaws."

About DMAA: The Care Continuum Alliance

DMAA: The Care Continuum Alliance convenes all stakeholders providing services along the care continuum toward the goal of population health improvement. These care continuum services include strategies such as health and wellness promotion, disease management and care coordination. DMAA: The Care Continuum Alliance promotes the role of population health improvement in raising the quality of care, improving health outcomes and reducing preventable health care costs for people with chronic conditions and those at risk for developing chronic conditions. DMAA: The Care Continuum Alliance represents more than 200 corporate and individual stakeholders, including health plans, disease management organizations, health information technology innovators, employers, physicians, nurses and other health care professionals and researchers and academicians.

DMAA: The Care Continuum Alliance