Extending Medicare Coverage for Preventive and Other Services - Softcover

Institute Of Medicine; Division Of Health Care Services; Committee On Medicare Coverage Extensions

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0309068894 ISBN 13: 9780309068895

Publisher: National Academies Press, 2000

Synopsis

This report, which was developed by an expert committee of the Institute of Medicine, reviews the first three services listed above. It is intended to assist policymakers by providing syntheses of the best evidence available about the effectiveness of these services and by estimating the cost to Medicare of covering them. For each service or condition examined, the committee commissioned a review of the scientific literature that was presented and discussed at a public workshop.

As requested by Congress, this report includes explicit estimates only of costs to Medicare, not costs to beneficiaries, their families, or others. It also does not include cost-effectiveness analyses. That is, the extent of the benefits relative to the costs to Medicare-or to society generally-is not evaluated for the services examined.

The method for estimating Medicare costs follows the generic estimation practices of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The objective was to provide Congress with estimates that were based on familiar procedures and could be compared readily with earlier and later CBO estimates. For each condition or service, the estimates are intended to suggest the order of magnitude of the costs to Medicare of extending coverage, but the estimates could be considerably higher or lower than what Medicare might actually spend were coverage policies changed. The estimates cover the five-year period 2000-2004.

In addition to the conclusions about specific coverage issues, the report examines some broader concerns about the processes for making coverage decisions and about the research and organizational infrastructure for these decisions. It also briefly examines the limits of coverage as a means of improving health services and outcomes and the limits of evidence as a means of resolving policy and ethical questions.

Table of Contents

• Front Matter
• Summary
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Objectives, Principles, and Methods
• 3 Screening for Skin Cancer
• 4 Medically Necessary Dental Services
• 5 Immunosuppressive Drugs for Transplant Patients
• 6 Future Directions
• References
• Appendix A: Study Activities
• Appendix B: Screening for Skin Cancer
• Appendix C: Medically Necessary Dental Services
• Appendix D: Immunosuppressive Therapy: The Scientific Basis and Clinical Practice of Immunosuppressive Therapy in the Management of Transplant Recipients
• Appendix E: Cost Estimates for Expanded Medicare Benefits: Skin Cancer Screening, Medically Necessary Dental Services, and Immunosuppressive Therapy for Transplant Recipients
• Appendix F: Committee Biographies
• Index

About this title

About the Author:

Marilyn J. Field, Robert L. Lawrence, and Lee Zwanziger, Editors; Committee on Medicare Coverage Extensions, Division of Health Care Services

About this edition

• Publisher: National Academies Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0309068894
• ISBN 13: 9780309068895
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 410
• Editor: Zwanziger Lee, Lawrence Robert L., Field Marilyn J.