Medicare: Call Centers Need to Improve Responses to Policy-Oriented Questions from Providers

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2002, GAO reported that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) needed to improve its communications with providers who deliver medical care to beneficiaries. GAO reported that 85 percent of the responses it received to 61 calls made to call centers operated by Medicare carriers--contractors that help manage the Medicare program--were incorrect or incomplete. GAO also found that CMS's primary oversight tools were insufficient to ensure accuracy in communication. GAO was asked whether call centers now provide correct and complete information to providers. GAO (1) reviewed carriers' effectiveness in providing correct and complete responses to policy-oriented telephone inquiries and CMS's efforts to improve communications with providers and (2) evaluated CMS's efforts to provide oversight of carrier call centers.