Get ready for an onslaught of questions about the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan in the next few weeks. That's because senior patients may need help selecting a prescription drug plan, and they likely will turn to their physicians for that help, say two recent reports.
Patients Look to Physicians for Part D Advice
By News Staff
11/17/2005
The first report, "Temporary Medicare-Approved Drug Discount Card: Beneficiaries' Awareness and Use of Information Resources," (PDF file: 49 pages / 823 KB. More about PDFs.) issued in October by HHS Inspector General David Levinson, found more than "one-third of enrolled beneficiaries needed help enrolling in a drug card (plan), and drug plan enrollment will likely be more complicated." Moreover, although most beneficiaries knew about prescription drug cards and how to get information on them, only 20 percent had contacted an information source without help.
A Nov. 10 survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health (PDF file: 28 pages / 135 KB. More about PDFs.) found 32 percent of respondents said they would consult their physician for help selecting a prescription drug plan under the program. Survey respondents also trust their physicians to have that information: 53 percent said physicians were "very" or "somewhat" likely to spend time helping patients choose a drug plan, and 65 percent said they expected their physicians to be very or somewhat knowledgeable about patients' drug plan choices.
“Many seniors expect to lean heavily on their doctors and pharmacists to help guide them through their many options,” said Kaiser Family Foundation Vice President Mollyann Brodie, Ph.D., director of the Foundation’s Public Opinion and Media Research department, in a Nov. 10 news release. “If this proves unrealistic, their frustration could create an implementation challenge.”
AAFP provides resources family physicians can use to educate patients about the prescription drug benefit. In addition, physicians can direct patients to (800) MEDICARE [633-4227], a toll-free Medicare information hotline, or to www.medicare.gov, which offers information about the prescription drug benefit and a drug plan finder tool for comparing drug plans in given areas.
However, although the Kaiser survey found that 50 percent of seniors had heard of "1-800-MEDICARE" and 35 percent had heard of "medicare.gov," 76 percent said they had never used these resources. Overall, only 8 percent of seniors said they had called the Medicare hotline for assistance, and 6 percent said they had visited the Web site.
Family physicians concerned about confusion among their Medicare patients may want to go to AAFP's physician toolkit page to download and print materials that can be distributed to patients when they ask questions about Medicare Part D.
A Nov. 10 survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health (PDF file: 28 pages / 135 KB. More about PDFs.) found 32 percent of respondents said they would consult their physician for help selecting a prescription drug plan under the program. Survey respondents also trust their physicians to have that information: 53 percent said physicians were "very" or "somewhat" likely to spend time helping patients choose a drug plan, and 65 percent said they expected their physicians to be very or somewhat knowledgeable about patients' drug plan choices.
“Many seniors expect to lean heavily on their doctors and pharmacists to help guide them through their many options,” said Kaiser Family Foundation Vice President Mollyann Brodie, Ph.D., director of the Foundation’s Public Opinion and Media Research department, in a Nov. 10 news release. “If this proves unrealistic, their frustration could create an implementation challenge.”
AAFP provides resources family physicians can use to educate patients about the prescription drug benefit. In addition, physicians can direct patients to (800) MEDICARE [633-4227], a toll-free Medicare information hotline, or to www.medicare.gov, which offers information about the prescription drug benefit and a drug plan finder tool for comparing drug plans in given areas.
However, although the Kaiser survey found that 50 percent of seniors had heard of "1-800-MEDICARE" and 35 percent had heard of "medicare.gov," 76 percent said they had never used these resources. Overall, only 8 percent of seniors said they had called the Medicare hotline for assistance, and 6 percent said they had visited the Web site.
Family physicians concerned about confusion among their Medicare patients may want to go to AAFP's physician toolkit page to download and print materials that can be distributed to patients when they ask questions about Medicare Part D.
