Text Box: MaineHealth Text Box: December 2011 Text Box: Volume 1, Issue 1 Text Box: Community Access Care Text Box: continue to reach out to your patients and periodically check in with them around their income and insurance status.  Making sure that they are aware of your sliding fee scale and other patient assistance services will ensure that they stay healthy even through the difficult times. Click here for the full issue brief. Text Box: New Report Illustrates Impact of Unemployment and Job Loss on Insurance Status: Across the nation, 60% of Americans get their health insurance through their employer.  The Commonwealth Fund’s new issue Brief, Realizing Health Reform’s Potential discusses the impact that job loss Text Box: can have on insurance status and finances.  They found that over half of workers who lose their job with benefits become uninsured, and four of 10 adults who became uninsured when they were laid off experienced serious financial consequences because of medical bills. With the economy slow to recover, it is important to Text Box: Health Reform Highlights Text Box: CarePartners Celebrates 10th Anniversary Text Box: The CarePartners program opened its doors to low-income uninsured individuals in June, 2001. Ten years later, the program is not only going strong, it has become a national model, expanded into additional regions of Maine, and spun off a “sister” program called MedAccess to assist non-CarePartners enrollees throughout the state with access to affordable medication. Over 1,000 volunteer medical providers in Cumberland, Kennebec, Lincoln and Waldo Text Box: Counties have donated comprehensive high quality medical services to 8,300 individuals. CarePartners staff has provided both medical and social service resource and referral information to 27,500 individuals who have contacted the program with health care concerns. MedAccess staff have assisted 8129 patients in securing $18.5M in free medication and provided additional information on local low cost generic program as well as other federal, state and local prescription Text Box: assistance programs. Our sincere gratitude to MaineHealth, Maine General Health, Lincoln County Health Care, Waldo County Hospital for financially supporting the program, Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Martins Point Informatics for administrative services, the CarePartners and MedAccess staff and all of the medical providers who have contributed to the health and well being of our patients and communities.

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Text Box: Spotlight on Health Reform Text Box: Some provisions of the Affordable Care Act have already gone into effect and are positively impacting your patients, including: Coverage for young adults up to age 26, improvements to Medicare and the Pre Existing Condition Insurance Plan.  In addition to those improvements, by January 1, 2014, people will be able to purchase coverage through a new health insurance Text Box: "exchange.” The exchange gives people a way, like by phone or the internet, to shop for health insurance, compare benefits and prices, and apply for help paying for insurance. The exchange will also direct people to MaineCare (Medicaid) if they're eligible. Maine residents are well positioned to benefit from the development of a statewide “exchange.”  With so many small businesses in Maine, it can be challenging for them to provide Text Box: comprehensive benefits to their employees due to the high costs involved. However, both small groups and individuals will be able to purchase insurance through “exchange,” which is currently under development. For more information on what the health insurance exchange means for your health center and patients, contact Carol Zechman at ZECHMC@mainehealth.org. Text Box: Maine Colorectal Cancer Control Program Text Box: The Maine Colorectal Cancer Control Program (MCRCCP) is a statewide Colorectal Cancer screening program funded by the Maine CDC. To date, the MCRCCP program has screened 514 patients for Colorectal Cancer. Patients may be eligible for a free colonoscopy or Fecal Immunoassay Testing (FIT) if they meet eligibility criteria. The program is available to patients who are: Text Box: Maine residents Uninsured or Underinsured At or below 250% of the Federal Poverty Level (ex. $27, 225 per year for household of 1) Age 50-64 (40-64 for patients with family history of CRC) At average risk for colorectal cancer. Please refer patients to our toll-free number in order to be screened: 1-877-320-6800. Text Box: For more information contact Aysha Sheikh, RN, MPH at 207-662-6165 or sheika1@mainehealth.org.

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Text Box: MedAccess Program Text Box: MedAccess helps individuals, state wide, access the medications they need. Many are available free of charge through the pharmaceutical companies who make the medication for un– and under– insured. MedAccess staff are on-site at Maine Medical Center, Stephens Memorial Hospital, Southern Maine Medical Center, and Waldo County General Hospital. Staff located with-in the hospitals are in a unique position to meet with people while they are still in-patient to educate them on generic medications, as well as, to enroll them in Patient Assistant Programs. Text Box: In addition, MedAccess employs a staff member that specializes in helping patients with cancer, receive their chemotherapy and oral anti-cancer medication free of charge and who is on-site at Maine Center for Cancer Medicine once a week. Text Box: Please refer anyone needing help paying for their medication to our screening line at 1-877-275-1787 in addition to screening people for eligibility for free PAP programs, MedAccess staff also have the knowledge and resources to educate people on $4 generics and other social service programs they may qualify for such as; MaineCare, Medicare and General Assistance. Text Box: Medicare News Text Box: So far this year, more than 2.2 million people with Medicare have saved more than $1.2 billion on their prescriptions, for an average of $550 per person, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced today. And more than 22.6 million seniors and people with disabilities have taken advantage of at least one free Medicare preventive benefit, including the new Annual Wellness Visit made possible by the Affordable Care Act. “Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, seniors are getting cheaper prescription drugs and free Text Box: preventive care,” said CMS Administrator Donald M. Berwick, MD. Under the Affordable Care Act, people with Medicare can receive many preventive services at no charge, including diabetes screening, some cancer screenings and help to quit smoking. People with Medicare across the country are also receiving cheaper prescription drugs. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, seniors and people with disabilities receive a 50 percent discount on covered brand name drugs in the Medicare Part D Text Box: coverage gap, also known as the “donut hole.” The coverage gap discount is set at 50 percent on covered brand name drugs again in 2012. Coverage in the donut hole will progressively increase each year until the coverage gap closes in 2020.

“Seniors save more than $1.2 billion on prescriptions thanks to the affordable care act”

For more information about how the Affordable Care Act closes the donut hole over time, go to:        http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/11493.pdf

Text Box: Program Director Presents at National Conference Text Box: CarePartners/MedAccess Program Director, Carol Zechman presented two workshops in Washington DC at the Communities Joined in Action 2011 National Conference: Improving Health ~ Eliminating Disparities in an Era of HealthCare Reform. The workshop topics included an Text Box: overview of sustainability and operational issues pertinent to Volunteer Provider Network program models and Information, Engaging and Educating Maine People about Health Reform. For more information about Communities Joined in Action, the Annual conference and to see the presentation materials you can go to www.cjaonline.net

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For additional information on any articles, the CarePartners or MedAccess programs, to be added or removed from our subscription list please contact us at the following link or contact Asst. Dir. Sarah Gerrish at 207-619-4841 or gerrisa@mainehealth.org