CMS has created the Quality Care Finder<http://www.medicare.gov/QualityCareFinder> as a collection of helpful tools on the Medicare.gov<http://www.medicare.gov/> website to help consumers research their healthcare options. These online research tools can help your Medicare patients and their caregivers compare healthcare providers, facilities, health and drug plans, equipment suppliers and more.
Quality Care Finder<http://www.medicare.gov/quality-care-finder/> includes the following tools: * Hospital Compare: Compare Medicare-certified hospitals locally and throughout the country based on the quality of their care. * Nursing Home Compare: Find Medicare-certified nursing homes and the special services each nursing home offers, like dementia care, ventilators or rehabilitation. Then compare their star ratings and the quality of care they give. * Home Health Compare: Find Medicare-certified home health agencies based on services like skilled nursing care, physical therapy, speech therapy and home health aides. Then, compare each home health agency based on the quality of their care. * Dialysis Facility Compare: Find Medicare-certified dialysis facilities and their services. Then, compare each facility based on quality of care. * Physician Compare: Find doctors, and other medical professionals, based on location, specialty, clinical training, foreign languages spoken, and more. Check to see if a doctor accepts the Medicare-approved amount as full payment. * Medicare Plan Finder: Get detailed, personalized information about the cost and benefits of available Medicare health and drug plans, and compare the quality of the services they provide. CMS has developed several publications about the Quality Care Finder<http://www.medicare.gov/quality-care-finder/> tools that can be shared with your Medicare patients and their caregivers: § Find and Compare High-Quality Healthcare Options<http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/11580.pdf> (Pub. # 11580) § Quality Care Finder: Find High-Quality Healthcare Options<http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/11581.pdf> (Pub. # 11581) These publications may be downloaded or ordered from the Medicare.gov Publications<http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Search/SearchCriteria.asp?version=default&browser=IE%7C8%7CWinXP&Language=English&pagelist=Home&comingFrom=13> page. It's a Busy Time of Year. Make each office visit an opportunity to talk with your patients about the importance of getting the seasonal flu vaccination and a one-time pneumococcal vaccination. Remember, Medicare pays for these vaccinations for all beneficiaries with no co-pay or deductible. The seasonal flu and invasive pneumococcal disease kill thousands of people in the United States each year, most of them 65 years of age and older. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also recommends that healthcare workers and caregivers be vaccinated against the seasonal flu. Protect your patients. Protect your family. Protect yourself. Get the Flu Vaccine-Not the Flu. Remember - The flu vaccine plus its administration are covered Part B benefits. CMS has posted the 2011-2012 seasonal flu vaccine payment limits at http://www.CMS.gov/McrPartBDrugAvgSalesPrice/10_VaccinesPricing.asp. Note that the flu vaccine is NOT a Part D-covered drug. For more information on coverage and billing of the flu vaccine and its administration, as well as related educational provider resources, visit http://www.CMS.gov/MLNProducts/35_PreventiveServices.asp and http://www.cms.gov/immunizations. Note: If you have problems accessing any hyperlink in this message, please copy and paste the URL into your Internet browser. If you know someone who would like to subscribe to a Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) provider listserv, go to (http://www.cms.gov/prospmedicarefeesvcpmtgen/downloads/Provider_Listservs.pdf). If you would like to unsubscribe from a specific provider listserv, please go to (https://list.nih.gov/cgi-bin/wa.exe?INDEX) to unsubscribe or to leave the appropriate listserv. Please DO NOT respond to this email. This email is a service of CMS and routed through an electronic mail server to communicate Medicare policy and operational changes and/or updates. Responses to this email are not routed to CMS personnel. Inquiries may be sent by going to (http://www.cms.gov/ContactCMS). Thank you.
