CMS EXPANDS AND IMPROVES MEDICARE WEB SITE TO ASSIST HEALTH CARE PRACTITIONERS AND PROVIDERS
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today unveiled an expanded and improved CMS' Web site, http://www.cms.hhs.gov/, to make it quicker and simpler for providers and health care practitioners to access valuable information that will help them better serve Medicare beneficiaries.
This information is aimed at allowing more effective use of the CMS Web site by focusing on the informational needs and interests of Medicare providers, including physicians and other practitioners. Most of the new Web pages are accessible from the Professionals tab at the top of http://www.cms.hhs.gov.
"We want doctors, hospitals and other health care providers to know that valuable, updated Medicare information is available to them at a single, easy-to-find Web site," CMS Administrator Tom Scully said. "These Web pages also remain open to any beneficiary, family member or others who want to be more knowledgeable about specific areas of the Medicare program."
Individual Web pages eventually will be prepared for all Medicare providers. Thus far, CMS has created pages for physicians, various types of hospitals including acute inpatient, outpatient, critical access, long-term care and inpatient rehabilitation facilities, home health agencies and ambulance service companies.
Following are the Web addresses for the new pages now available:
- Ambulance services: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/suppliers/ambulance/
- Drugs: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/providers/drugs/
- Physicians: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/physicians/
- Hospitals: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/providers/hospital.asp.
- Acute inpatient: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/providers/hipps/
- Outpatient Prospective Payment System: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/providers/hopps/
- Critical access hospitals: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicaid/survey-cert/cah.asp.
- Long-term care hospitals: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/providers/longterm/
- Inpatient rehabilitation facilities: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/providers/irfpps/
- Home health agencies: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/providers/hha/.
Each of these pages contains links to information related to specialized areas, such as federal regulations and notices, program memoranda, training and educational activities, and frequently asked questions. They also have general information links that can be found on all new provider audience sites that relate to open door forums, Medicare conditions of participation, program integrity and other subjects that would be of interest to all audiences.
To keep informed of changes, providers can bookmark pages or sign up for the appropriate Listserv (http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medlearn/listserv.asp.) Other pages are currently under development for ambulatory surgical centers, durable medical equipment, federally qualified health centers, hospice, rural health and skilled nursing facilities.