Medicare Launches New App “What’s Covered”
Newest eMedicare Tool Provides Valuable Information to Mobile Users
On February 6th, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched a new initiative “What’s Covered” app to provide consumers direct access on a mobile device to see what’s covered under Original Medicare.
The new “What’s Covered” app lets people with Original Medicare, caregivers and others quickly see whether Medicare covers a specific medical item or service.
CMS created the app to meet the needs of the growing population of people with Medicare. The Medicare population is projected to increase almost 50 percent by 2030—from 54 million beneficiaries in 2015 to more than 80 million beneficiaries in 2030. As of 2016, about two-thirds of Medicare beneficiaries indicate they use the Internet daily or almost daily (65 percent). Questions about what Medicare covers are some of the most frequent inquiries that CMS receives. There are approximately 15 million page views annually for coverage-related content on Medicare.gov and 1-800 MEDICARE receives over 3 million coverage-related calls each year.
The app has a price transparency tool that lets consumers compare the national average costs of certain procedures between settings, so people can see what they’ll pay for procedures done in a hospital outpatient department versus an ambulatory surgical center.
The What’s Covered app is available for free in both Google Play and the Apple App Store. The app is available in Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gov.medicare.coverage
The app is available at the Apple App Store at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/whats-covered/id1444143600?mt=8
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