CMS has announced in a webinar they are no longer going to be supporting saved drug lists through Medicare.gov.  To date, there has been no formal press release, but here is a brief statement from CMS:

According to a recent CMS announcement, Medicare.gov will no longer support saved Rx drug lists.  Medicare Beneficiaries can save their Rx list on their MyMedicare.gov account.

Agents can assist with the initial set-up of a My Medicare.gov account with their clients, but should not have access to the password due to the fact MyMedicare.gov has private health and payment information for Medicare beneficiaries.  This is to protect the client and the agent from any future issues or HIPPA situations.

NEW: Click here to listen to an update on this topic from JoAnn Wray, President of Senior Marketing Specialists and Dan Mangus, Vice President of Sales.  

FAQ’s to Help Understand the Situation Fully

What does this mean?  The drug list ID number and passwords you have will no longer be valid, according to CMS. You will no longer be able reference saved drug lists.

When is it going away?  The current look-up method is supposed to be taken off line by Oct 1^st, but it has been rumored to be as soon as September 2^nd

Will they have to pull all client lists now if they only saved the ID before it goes away?  For now, yes. We suggest pulling all drug information now in case the delete date is moved up. 

If clients do want to create their own login, can they store their own drug lists on my.medicare.gov?  Yes. Clients can save their own drug list and even some basic health information can be stored.

How does Enrollment Express save the drug list for each client?  The agent will create a client profile. As they make the file, they enter in drug information. It can be changed, removed, or added to a client profile at any time.

Can agents compliantly keep a clients username and password for my.medicare.gov?  No, this is a potential HIPPA violation.

When a drug list is run on Enrollment Express does it show all drug plans or only the plans the agent is contracted and certified to offer?  Enrollment Express will show the drug plans for any carrier you are currently/actively contracted with Senior Marketing Specialists for and have a Ready-to-Sell status with (portfolio certified for each product/carrier).

Can they still run anonymous drug list on Medicare.gov?  Yes, drug lists can still be run on Medicare.gov without a client making their own account, however those drug lists will NOT be saved on Medicare.gov.

Transferring a Clients Drug List to a New Personal Account on Medicare.gov

It is the current understanding that if your clients go to Medicare.gov and do a “Tailored Comparison” (lower left in picture) vs. a Basic Search, after entering the initial information they will be able to enter their Drug List ID (previously acquired from doing a basic search formerly). It should then transfer the list over to the clients personal ID with Medicare.gov and will be added to their account.

Image Source: https://www.medicare.gov/find-a-plan/questions/home.aspx

Your Options as an Agent

1.  Register for our upcoming Introduction to Enrollment Express webinar where we will discuss the functionality behind the new enrollment platform.

• • Build and search client profiles
  • Send and save Scope of Appointments
  • Enter and save information about drug, provider, health, and more

2.  To discuss options for your upcoming AEP and how these CMS changes effect your business please give us a call at (800) 689-2800 or email agentresources@smsteam.net. We can help adapt a plan to address these changes for the upcoming AEP.