Developing an Information Infrastructure for the Medicare+Choice Program

On March 4 and 5, 1998, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Choice and Managed Care held a 2-day workshop entitled Developing the Information Infrastructure for Medicare Beneficiaries. This workshop was a follow-up to the IOM report entitled Improving the Medicare Market: Adding Choice and Protections. The workshop focused on the Medicare provisions in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which mandate that the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) develop a "nationally coordinated education and publicity campaign" in 1998 and move Medicare beneficiaries to an open-season enrollment process by the year 2002. Table of Contents Front Matter 1 Introduction 2 HCFA's Plan of Action 3 HCFA as a Successful Consumer Service Agency 4 How to Reach Beneficiaries: Lessons from Private Industry 5 Role of Third Parties in the Information Infrastructure 6 Best Practices and Models for an Open-Season Enrollment Process 7 Special Needs Populations: Helping Those Most in Need of Assistance 8 Implementation Issues 9 Letter Report to the Administration of the Health Care Financing Administration on Developing an Information Infrastructure for the Medicare+Choice Program References Appendix A: Workshop Agenda Appendix B: Workshop Participants