Medicare “What’s Covered” App Aims for Price Transparency
The free app will improve price transparency for Medicare members by providing accurate information about the cost and coverage of services.
Source: Thinkstock
By Jessica Kent
- CMS has launched a new price transparency app that shows users which medical services and tests are covered under Medicare, the agency announced in a recent blog post.
The free “What’s Covered” app provides users with accurate cost and coverage information through their smartphones. Users can see whether Medicare covers a medical service in the doctor’s office, the hospital, or any other clinical setting.
The app includes information on general cost, coverage, and eligibility details for items and services covered by Medicare Part A and B. Users can search or browse the app to learn what’s covered and how to get covered benefits. “What’s Covered” also includes basic cost information, as well as a list of covered preventive services.
The new app is the latest feature of CMS’s eMedicare initiative, which aims to ensure beneficiaries have personalized, accessible guidance that can help them make informed decisions about their care and coverage. CMS is using data from millions of interactions, feedback from beneficiaries, and targeted research to build these improvements.
“eMedicare is a multi-year initiative designed to improve the channels Medicare uses for customer service,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma.
“The goal is to create a more modern, personalized, and seamless customer experience for people with Medicare and their loved ones, no matter how they choose to get information.”
“What’s Covered” is available to download for free on Google Play and the Apple App Store. Once the app is installed, users can get reliable Medicare information even when offline. The app is just one of the changes Medicare will make to enable a faster, easy-to-use consumer experience.
“We’re adding new online features to make it faster and easier to find and compare Medicare coverage options, and to quickly see estimates for what that coverage will cost,” Verma said.
“Over the next few years, we’ll continue to improve and transform to provide a more convenient, accessible, and personalized Medicare experience.”
