Medicare Raises Awareness of Covered Preventive Benefits

Medicare has launched a national public outreach campaign to raise awareness about the preventive benefits now covered at no charge to patients, including the new Annual Wellness Visit benefit created by the Affordable Care Act, according to a CMS release.

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According to the release, CMS released a report showing that more than 5 million Americans with traditional Medicare — or nearly one in six people with Medicare – took advantage of one or more of the recommended preventive benefits now available for free due to the Affordable Care Act.

As part of the covered Annual Wellness Visit, Medicare beneficiaries can review the patient’s health and develop a personalized wellness plan. According to CMS, over 780,000 beneficiaries received an Annual Wellness Visit between Jan. 1 and June 10, and more seniors have used the Welcome to Medicare Exam in 2011.

A renewed push toward prevention is the latest step in CMS’ fulfillment of its “three-part aim”: better care and better health at lower cost through improvement of healthcare.

Read the CMS release on preventive benefits.

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