Operational Excellence
November 12, 2007
Kaiser Permanente Outreach Program Assists Thousands of Medicare Members
About 4 million Americans eligible for the Medicare Part D drug benefit’s Low Income Subsidy have failed to sign up for it. Fortunately for Medicare beneficiaries who also are Kaiser Permanente members, Kaiser Permanente created an outreach program that helped several thousand members obtain subsidized Part D benefits.
The Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Policy has published a short primer regarding the Medicare Part D subsidy and Kaiser Permanente’s efforts to reach out to eligible members. The institute now is making the primer available to policymakers, health plans, and others to raise awareness of the importance of the subsidy and potential opportunities for outreach.
In 2006, Kaiser Permanente and the National Council on Aging collaborated to identify and contact more than 80,000 Kaiser Permanente members who were potentially eligible for the subsidy. Targeted mailings and a specialized call center were created to help thousands of members through the application process.
The outreach program also screened Kaiser Permanente members for eligibility for other programs serving low-income populations such as Medicaid, the Medicare Savings Programs, and Supplemental Security Income, as well as other federal and state programs. As a result of this screening, about 2,200 members were found to be eligible for Medicaid, but not enrolled in the program. Numbers for 2007 are not yet available.
Kaiser Permanente’s Community Benefit organization provided financial grants in five regions to help drive Medicare Part D subsidy information to numerous communities. Those grants helped local agencies present 190 training and enrollment events, send an educational "Care Van" to low-income neighborhoods, and create a 24-page publication filled with information about Medicare Part D and the Low-Income Subsidy.
The effort has been cost-effective for Kaiser Permanente and for members: Members are expected to receive $17.20 in benefits, over the course of their years in the health plan, for every dollar Kaiser Permanente spent for the outreach and screening programs. One estimate pegged the value to members for this outreach activity at almost $7.5 million for 2007.
"The Power of Partnerships: Lessons from Outreach for the Part D Low-Income Subsidy Program" is available through the Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Policy’s website.
The Institute for Health Policy works to help Kaiser Permanente better participate in shaping the health policy agenda in the United States. The institute’s experts research and analyze health policy, with a goal of increasing understanding of policy issues and helping provide solutions. Learn more through the Institute’s website, http://www.kpihp.org.
