Many Medicare beneficiaries are elderly and most of them will likely have trouble understanding the complicated new drug plan because of age-related cognitive impairments. As a result, long term care providers will need to educate patients about the new plan, which some predict will prove burdensome.
Several long term care association members expressed their concerns in this Dallas Morning News article (free registration):
The American Health Care Association, which represents long-term care providers, says it understands the rule’s rationale but worries about how to educate residents on the plans.
“We know we can’t steer anyone to a plan, but many of our patients are old and frail,” said association spokeswoman Susan Feeney. “Lawmakers didn’t consider that in crafting the law.”
The typical nursing home resident is 84 and takes nine medications, according to the Long Term Care Pharmacy Alliance.
Stephen Cutshaw, an administrator at the C.C. Young retirement community in Dallas, said he and his staff are working with patients’ families to explain the new Medicare benefit.
“It’s been burdensome to implement,” he said. “We can sit down with them and explain their options. But we have to stand back when it comes time for them to make a decision.”
There seems to be a growing consensus that the new drug plan is confusing. Whether Medicare will simplify the program remains to be seen.