CMS Announces Upcoming Updates to Medicare Plan Finder

CMS has been implementing updates to the Medicare Plan Finder periodically since the beginning of 2020.  Earlier this week, NAHU was informed of the following updates to the Medicare Plan Finder for the upcoming 2021 plan year this fall. NAHU has requested another call with CMS ahead of the AEP to discuss updates and to view a demonstration of these updates. These include changing the default sort to yearly drug cost plus premium cost, redesigning the plan cards to improve readability, implementing a variety of visual enhancements, and increasing the frequency of data updates. Additional updates will continue leading up to open enrollment.  Below is an outline of what to expect over the coming months: Mid July: §  Upgrades to streamline the login process and improve the experience as beneficiaries navigate between the MyMedicare features and Plan Finder features §  Updating the MPF landing page to move calls to action higher on the page and reduce need to scroll August §  Launch redesigned Medigap tool with enhancements based on user feedback, and connect to new backend data source to display more accurate and updated plan and policy level data §  Backend updates to prepare for Open Enrollment launch and HPMS preview. Updates to the display of the plan details will be made so plans can accurately preview their 2021 plan data, but won’t be visible yet on the public MPF site. September §  Updates to Pharmacy Selection Options that include the ability to: §  Find pharmacies based on the name of the pharmacy §  Add up to 4 pharmacies and mail order §  Change pharmacies from the plan details page more seamlessly §  Enhancements to pharmacy search to give more precise results Early October §  Adding Drug frequency options §  Allows beneficiaries to select 1 or 2x a year fills and smaller usage dosages to see more precise cost information  §  Updates to search results filter §  Adding Plan Type filter (i.e., PPO, HMO, MSA, etc.) to allow users to narrow down the search results to the types of plans they are looking for §  Adding drug coverage filter to allow users to only see plans that cover all their drugs §  Updates to allow beneficiaries to see future LIS pricing  §  Display renal dialysis benefit in plan benefits (important to ESRD beneficiaries who are becoming eligible for Medicare Advantage) §  Add flag for plans participating in the Part D Senior Savings Model §  Updates to plan card details for Medicare Medical Savings Accounts (e.g. show deposit amount) Mid-October:  §  Open Enrollment Launch §  Open usual ability to enroll in 2021 plan options

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