Two-thirds of Medicare patients say they use the Internet daily, so the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) created the What’s Covered app that gives consumers direct access to the most used content on Medicare.gov. Adoption of the app may help medical coders submit more accurate claims and better explain why some aren’t covered.

What’s Covered App

The new app lets Medicare A & B beneficiaries and their caregivers see  whether Medicare covers a medical item or service. CMS promises “Consumers can now use their mobile device to more easily get accurate, consistent Original Medicare coverage information in the doctor’s office, the hospital, or anywhere else they use their mobile device.”

CMS said it is also enabling beneficiaries through its Blue Button 2.0 to connect their claims data to applications and tools to help them understand, use, and share their health data.  CMS said this part of its eMedicare initiative is being developed by “private-sector” companies.

What’s Covered is available from Google Play and iPhone App Store.

Online App Eases Information Gathering

CMS estimates the Medicare population will increase to more than 80 million beneficiaries by 2030.  Already,  54 million beneficiaries along with their caregivers generate 15 million page views and 3 million coverage-related phone calls each year.

CMS said they launched their eMedicare to “empower beneficiaries with cost and quality information. Other tools in the eMedicare suite include:

• Enhanced interactive online decision support to help people better understand and evaluate their Medicare coverage options and costs between Medicare and Medicare Advantage.
• A new online service that lets people quickly see how different coverage choices will affect their estimated out-of-pocket costs.
• New price transparency tools that let 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.
• A new webchat option in the Medicare Plan Finder.
• New easy-to-use surveys across Medicare.gov so consumers can continue to tell us what they want.