Medicare program; special solicitation; preventive services demonstration--HCFA. General notice

HCFA is soliciting applications for demonstration projects to assess the economy and efficacy of expanding Medicare coverage to include preventive services. Under this demonstration, HCFA will provide reimbursement for preventive services that are not usually covered by Medicare. Research on the use of health care services by the general population supports the medical efficacy of selected preventive services. Nonetheless, few insurers provide coverage and reimbursement for preventive services. Usually insurers, including Medicare, restrict coverage to services that treat, rather than prevent, illness. Although proponents of preventive services assert that health improvement benefits and cost savings would result from an expanded preventive services package, the efficacy and economy of coverage of preventive services has not been tested on the Medicare beneficiary population. HCFA believes such research is necessary. This solicitation contains information about demonstration requirements, application procedures, criteria HCFA will use for reviewing applications, and amount and duration of grant awards.