CMS Opens Medicare Evidence-Based Diabetes Prevention Services Model to Community Healthcare Organizations

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is encouraging community-based organizations to become service suppliers for the newly-expanded Medicare diabetes prevention program model, reports Healthcare Finance News . This allows providers to bill CMS for treating Medicare patients with prediabetes and, because the service is free for qualifying beneficiaries, healthcare organizations can use it to reach individuals who might not have otherwise come in for a screening. The model is for community organizations and providers to establish structured behavior change intervention programs to curb the onset of type 2 diabetes among Medicare beneficiaries who have an indication of prediabetes. CMS said that is now enabling community-based organizations to join traditional healthcare providers in enrolling as Medicare suppliers of these health behavior change services. They may provide evidence-based diabetes prevention services after earning certification from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The model is forecast to save the Medicare program more than $180 million by keeping beneficiaries healthy and avoiding new cases of diabetes. Medicare spends more than $104 billion per year treating people with this disease, CMS said, and more than one-fourth of seniors in the United States have type 2 diabetes. This is the first preventative services test model released by the CMS Innovation Center to expand nationally.