News
New Tools Help Older Adults Maximize Benefits
As AAAs ramp up your Medicare training, education and outreach efforts in October, we want to support those activities by making you aware of a pervasive, but often undiscussed, issue affecting many of your clients.
Research shows that 88 percent of older adults lack the knowledge to take advantage of their pharmacy benefits, resulting in poor medication adherence, and, ultimately, avoidable health care problems. For this reason, we have developed, in collaboration with Walgreens, an exciting new resource to supplement the vital work you're already doing to help older adults understand and navigate their Medicare benefits.
We're pleased to announce the creation of the Answers on Aging® ¦Pharmacy Benefits campaign, an n4a program developed to spread awareness of the health and financial consequences for millions of older Americans who aren't maximizing their pharmacy benefits. During the week of October 12, we will roll out the first components of a toolkit—a consumer guide and checklist—that will be available for you to educate consumers about their pharmacy benefits once they have selected their Medicare Part D plan. Should you wish to use these tools, they've been designed to ensure that there is minimal additional work for your Medicare counselors.
Later in the year, we will provide you with additional education and outreach tools to support public recognition of Pharmacy Benefits Week (PBW), a new observance developed to shine a spotlight on this important issue. Because most older adults begin to seek help understanding their new prescription benefits in the new year, PBW will take place January 25-29, 2016. We will be in touch soon with more information.