Cardiovascular, diabetes screening: Medicare to cover more preventive services.(Practice Trends)

Get ready to offer more preventive services to Medicare beneficiaries in the coming year.

On Jan. 1, 2005, Medicare will start paying physicians for "Welcome to Medicare" physicals, and cardiovascular and diabetes screening tests, all of which was authorized by last year's Medicare Modernization Act.

Sweetening the pot a bit more is a 1.5% increase in physician reimbursement, also courtesy of the giant reform law, federal health officials said during a press briefing announcing draft regulations to implement the changes.

"I know how important it is to have not only good coverage for preventive tests to get better outcomes, but also coverage that provides access to high-quality physician services," Dr. Mark McClellan, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said.

With these new coverage options, "Medicare will have the most comprehensive array of preventive benefits ever," Dr. McClellan said.

In the draft regulations, Medicare proposes to cover the lipid panel and its components (total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides) to screen for cardiovascular disease. On the diabetes front, the agency proposes to cover fasting plasma glucose testing and postglucose challenges for high-risk beneficiaries. Coverage for these tests is subject to change in response to comments from the public, a CMS spokeswoman said.

Dr. McClellan noted that many Medicare beneficiaries don't receive other preventive health benefits they are entitled to under the program, such as mammograms, Pap tests, prostrate cancer screenings, and influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations, because they're unaware that they need the services.