Chronic Care Manager
Chronic Care Manager
We want to inform our Medicare patients of a service that helps to maintain better health and save medical bills. If we are your primary care provider, Medicare now pays for a service called Chronic Care Management, which helps to coordinate your care. It saves both you and Medicare money by proactively keeping you more healthy and reducing your need for hospitalization and other emergent interventions.
To qualify for this special service, one must have two or more chronic diseases (hypertension osteoarthritis, diabetes, heart or kidney disease or other problems) . Most secondary insurances pick up the 7-8 dollar Medicare copay, so, for most patients, it is free. You may cancel the service at any time for any reason and only your primary care doctor can provide this service.
If you qualify and enroll, your personal representative (the chronic care manager) will call you at least monthly and help coordinate your prescription refills, specialty referrals, home health, testing and hospital visits. You may call your care manager at any time, and there is an after-hours urgent number to reach a physician for urgent situations.
Mary Beth Beard and Sheree Bates are our chronic care managers. To sign up for, or cancel this service, call them at 256 741-1339 or 256 835-0076. If you are signed up for our patient portal, you can simply send them a message.
