New Educational Initiative Introduced to Raise Awareness of Chronic Care Management

Connected Care is a new educational initiative to raise awareness of the benefits of chronic care management (CCM) services for Medicare beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions and to provide healthcare professionals with support to implement CCM programs. It is a nationwide effort within fee-forservice Medicare that includes a focus on racial and ethnic minorities, as well as rural populations, who tend to have higher rates of chronic diseases.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which launched the initiative with the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy at the Health Resources and Service Administration, “two-thirds of Medicare beneficiaries have two or more chronic conditions, and one-third have four or more chronic conditions. Many healthcare professionals are providing these patients with chronic care management, non-face-to-face services such as reviewing test results or coordinating with other providers, but are not aware of the separate payments under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and are not receiving the full separate payments that are now available for CCM services under Medicare Part B.”

The initiative includes new resources to educate patients and healthcare professionals, including:

• A toolkit for healthcare professionals with detailed information about CCM and resources to help providers implement CCM;
• A partner toolkit that includes downloadable resources and suggested activities to get involved in the Connected Care initiative; and
• Patient education resources, including a poster and postcard that can be used in a clinical or community setting.

All resources are available online at go.cms.gov/ccm and can be ordered at no cost.