Legislation aimed toward better chronic care

South Carolina’s 3rd District representative Jeff Duncan and  Democratic and an Independent counterparts in the House are reviving a bill that they believe would facilitate improved management of chronic care patients.  The bill is called the Seniors’ Chronic Care Management Improvement Act.  Duncan, Vermont Independent Peter Welch, and Washington State Democrat Suzan DelBene believe that, for Medicare beneficiaries, chronic care management has been shown to meaningfully lower patient costs and results in better health outcomes.  According to a statement from Rep. Duncan’s office, chronic care management is billed each month.  While providers are required to get consent from their patients before providing the services, it is confusing to seniors to get a bill from their doctor when they did not have an appointment.  The co-insurance is small, usually $8 a month, but providers must comply with Medicare rules and make an honest effort to collect that payment.