Medicare Learning Network (MLN) Messages
October is Healthy Lung Month. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is asking the provider community to keep their patients with Medicare healthy by encouraging them to take advantage of Medicare-covered smoking and tobacco-use cessation counseling benefits.
Tobacco use continues to be the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States. Smoking can attribute to and exacerbate heart disease, stroke, lung disease, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis, macular degeneration, abdominal aortic aneurysm, and cataracts. Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body and generally diminishes the health of smokers.
Medicare provides coverage of smoking and tobacco-use cessation counseling for beneficiaries who use tobacco and have a disease or adverse health effect linked to tobacco use, or who take certain therapeutic agents whose metabolism or dosage is affected by tobacco use.
What Can You Do?
As a health care professional who provides care to patients with Medicare, you can help protect the health of your patients by educating them about their risk factors and encourage them to take advantage of Medicare-covered smoking and tobacco-use cessation counseling benefits as appropriate.
For More Information
CMS has developed several educational products related to Medicare-covered smoking and tobacco-use cessation counseling:
- The Guide to Medicare Preventive Services for Physicians, Providers, Suppliers, and Other Health Care Professionals ~ provides coverage and coding information on the array of preventive services and screenings that Medicare covers, including smoking and tobacco-use cessation counseling. http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/mps_guide_Web-061305.pdf
- The MLN Preventive Services Educational Products Web Page ~ provides descriptions and ordering information for Medicare Learning Network (MLN) preventive services educational products, including products related to Medicare-covered smoking and tobacco-use cessation counseling. http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/35_PreventiveServices.asp
- Quick Reference Information: Medicare Preventive Services ~ this double-sided chart provides coverage and coding information on Medicare-covered preventive services, including smoking and tobacco-use cessation counseling. http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/MPS_QuickReferenceChart_1.pdf
- Smoking and Tobacco-Use Cessation Counseling brochure~ this brochure provides information on coverage for Medicare-covered smoking and tobacco-use cessation counseling. http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/smoking.pdf
Please visit the Medicare Learning Network for more information on these and other Medicare fee-for-service educational products. For more information about the risks of smoking and resources to help encourage your patients to quit, please visit the American Lung Association's "Quit Smoking" Website at: http://www.lungusa.org/site/c.dvLUK9O0E/b.33484/k.438A/Quit_Smoking.htm .
Thank you for helping CMS improve the health of patients with Medicare by joining in the effort to educate eligible beneficiaries about the importance of taking advantage of smoking and tobacco-use cessation counseling services and other preventive services covered by Medicare.
The 2009 - 2010 Seasonal Influenza Educational Products and Resources document, which provides a list of MLN products and other resources with information about Medicare policies regarding seasonal flu, has been newly revised and updated! It is now available on the Medicare Learning Network
in a downloadable, printable format at the following address: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/Downloads/Flu_Products.pdf . For more information about Medicare's coverage of the seasonal influenza vaccine and its administration as well as the many other preventive services Medicare covers, please go to http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/35_PreventiveServices.asp on the CMS Website.
For information on Medicare policies related to H1N1 influenza, please go to http://www.cms.hhs.gov/H1N1
on the CMS Website.
The Medicare Learning Network's Adult Immunization Brochure has been newly revised and updated! This brochure provides information about Medicare coverage of the seasonal influenza, pneumococcal, and Hepatitis B vaccines. It is now available on the Medicare Learning Network
in a downloadable, printable format at the following address: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/Adult_Immunization.pdf .
Printed hardcopy versions of this brochure will be available at a later date. For more products related to Medicare-covered preventive services, please visit our preventive services educational products Website at: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/35_PreventiveServices.asp
Please note: The information in the adult immunizations brochure relates to seasonal influenza only. For information related to Medicare coverage and policy related to H1N1 influenza, also called "swine flu," please visit http://www.cms.hhs.gov/H1N1
on the CMS Website.
The Medicare Learning Network's Glaucoma Screenings Brochure has been newly revised and updated! This brochure provides information about Medicare coverage of glaucoma screenings, including dilated eye examinations with an intraocular pressure measurement, direct ophthalmoscopy examinations and slit-lamp biomicroscopic examinations. It is now available on the Medicare Learning Network
in a downloadable, printable format at the following address: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/Glaucoma.pdf .
Printed hardcopy versions of this brochure will be available at a later date.
For more products related to Medicare-covered preventive services, please visit our preventive services educational products Website at: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/35_PreventiveServices.asp
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Page Last Updated: Thursday, 18-Mar-2010 05:49:10 CDT
