{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/brown-calls-on-cms-to-protect-seniors-by-preventing-them-from-losing-their-doctors", "Brown Calls On CMS to Protect Seniors by Preventing Them from Losing Their Doctors", "2014-12-19", "2014", "2014-12", "Democrat", "House", "OH", "Sherrod Brown", "B000944", "www.brown.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Bipartisan, Bicameral Letter Urges Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator to Provide Notice to Seniors about Changes in Networks and Plans While Ensuring Uninterrupted, High-Quality Care. Brown Introduced Legislation to Help Protect Medicare Patients by Ensuring a Patient Bill of Rights\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tFriday, December 19, 2014\n            \n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) calls for increased consumer protections in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. In a letter to Marilyn Tavenner, Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Brown and 19 of his Congressional colleagues urged the agency to require MA plans to fix their provider networks before each annual open enrollment period to provide adequate notice to seniors about changes in networks and plans while ensuring uninterrupted, high-quality care.\r\n\u201cOver the last year, thousands of doctors and other providers have been removed without cause from MA plan networks, needlessly disrupting the care of seniors across the country,\u201d Brown wrote. \u201cThis blatant bait and switch should not be allowed. Therefore we urge you to require that MA plans fix their provider networks in advance of the annual open enrollment period in your FY 2016 call letter. This will allow Medicare Advantage enrollees to select a plan with a provider network that meets their needs. It will also give MA enrollees security in knowing that their providers cannot be dropped from the network in between enrollment periods.\u201d\r\nIn advance of next year\u2019s open enrollment period, the lawmakers are urging CMS to fix their provider networks to ensure that when MA enrollees select a plan, they can be sure that their providers will not be dropped from their network in between enrollment periods.\r\nIn addition to Brown, the letter was signed by U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Rand Paul (R-KY), and U.S. Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-3), Steve Cohen (D-TN-9), Adam Schiff (D-CA-28), Lloyld Doggett (D-TX-35), Charles Rangel (D-NY-13), Keith Ellison (D-MN-5), Doris Matsui (D-CA-6), Barbara Lee (D-CA-13), Brian Higgins (D-NY-26), Chellie Pingree (D-ME-1), Lois Frankel (D-FL-22), Elizabeth Esty (D-CT-5), Joe Courtney (D-CT-2), Lujan Grisham (D-NM-1), and Mark Takano (D-CA-41). The letter has been endorsed by the American Medical Association.\r\nThe letter outlined several steps Tavenner could take to ensure additional beneficiary protections, including: a special enrollment period, more advance notice to enrollees about changes in their provider network, and up-to-date provider directories.\r\nIn response to stories from constituents about doctors being dropped from their MA plans in the middle of the year, Brown, Blumenthal, and DeLauro introduced the Medicare Advantage Participant Bill of Rights Act in June. This bill would require MA plans to finalize their provider networks 60 days before the annual open enrollment period begins to ensure that enrollees know what providers will be covered before they enroll in an MA plan. It would also prohibit plans from dropping doctors without cause outside of open enrollment, ensuring seniors would not have to worry about abruptly losing access to their doctors.\r\nFull text of the today\u2019s letter is below.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u00a0\r\nDecember 19, 2014\r\n\u00a0\r\nMarilyn Tavenner\r\nAdministrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services\r\nThe U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 200 Independence Avenue, S.W.  Washington, D.C. 20201\r\nDear Administrator Tavenner:\r\nWe are writing to ask that you increase consumer protections in the Medicare Advantage (MA) plan offerings in the Fiscal Year 2016 Call Letter. Past Call Letters have reflected a willingness by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to make changes to requirements regarding adequate notice to consumers about provider networks in these plans and offering better options for seniors who have had changes foisted on them mid-plan year. While we appreciate your attention to this matter, we believe much more must be done to provide potential enrollees with adequate information to make decisions about MA plans. \r\nOver the last year, thousands of doctors and other providers have been removed without cause from MA plan networks, needlessly disrupting the care of seniors across the country. \u00a0This blatant bait and switch should not be allowed.\u00a0 Therefore we urge you to require that MA plans to fix their provider networks in advance of the annual open enrollment period in you FY 2016 call letter.\u00a0 This will allow Medicare Advantage enrollees to select a plan with a provider network that meets their needs.\u00a0 It will also give MA enrollees security in knowing that their providers cannot be dropped from the network in between enrollment periods. \r\nIf MA Plans continue to be allowed to drop providers during the middle of the plan year, we have several suggestions that we believe are necessary to provide fairness to seniors and should be included in the 2016 Call Letter. \r\nSpecial Enrollment Periods.\u00a0 We understand that Medicare traditionally provides services rather than access to specific providers; however, because the very nature of MA plans relies on the use of specific networks of providers within plans, CMS has a responsibility to ensure that enrollees will receive the plan as advertised.\u00a0 If CMS continues to allow insurers to make changes to provider networks mid-plan year, the Agency must strengthen the Special Enrollment Period (SEP) for subscribers whose provider has been dropped, allowing them to change their plan. \r\nCriteria for Special Enrollment Periods.\u00a0 CMS should define the \u201csignificant\u201d provider changes that would make an enrollee eligible for a SEP in a way that reflects the needs of individuals, allowing\u00a0 beneficiaries to change plans if their providers who were a part of the network when they signed up for a specific plan are no longer in-network. At the same time, we ask the agency to carefully monitor the use of such SEPs and any related marketing by health plans, to minimize gaming and other discriminatory practices. These policy changes will preserve beneficiary choice and minimize disruptions in care continuity. \r\nNotice to Enrollees.\u00a0 Adequate notice is essential to making sure that seniors can make informed decisions about how to utilize Medicare to fit their needs.\u00a0\u00a0 CMS\u2019 notice to enrollees through the Annual Notice of Change continues to inadequately inform enrollees about the status of provider networks and whether individual providers are still in-network. At a minimum, we urge CMS to adopt the proposal that was initially presented in last year\u2019s draft Call Letter of notifying enrollees 60 days rather than 30 days before the open enrollment period of any changes to the provider network. \r\nUp to Date and Practical Directories.\u00a0 CMS must ensure that provider directories, particularly those that are available online, are kept up to date and provide accurate information to enrollees on office addresses, specialty information, languages the providers speak, and whether providers are accepting new patients. Furthermore, CMS should make all provider directories more useable by linking them to the Plan Finder.\r\nNetwork Standards.\u00a0 Finally, CMS should consider applying network standards for other plans to MA plans. Requiring essential community providers would help ensure that provider networks are indeed adequate to meet the needs of enrollees. Most importantly, the CMS commitment to active annual review of Medicare-Medicaid Plans should be applied to all MA plans. The aggressive changes to plans that have affected our communities over the past few years are simply unacceptable. Additional oversight by CMS of plans that serve the Medicare population is vital to making sure that the plans that seniors select during open enrollment are not gutted by insurers at a time when seniors are left with no options or recourse.\u00a0 \r\nWe look forward to working together with you on implementing these ideas and others that will better protect seniors. Thank you very much for your attention to this matter. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \r\n\u00a0\r\nSincerely,\r\n\u00a0\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tPress Contact\n\t\t\t\t\tMeghan Dubyak/Lauren Kulik\r\n(202) 224-3978", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://www.brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/brown-calls-on-cms-to-protect-seniors-by-preventing-them-from-losing-their-doctors"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.289242809638381, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}