The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003

The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (PL 108–73; MMA), signed into law in December 2003, represents the biggest expansion of Medicare in the program’s history. In addition to adding outpatient prescription drug coverage, the bill contains scores of other changes affecting the nation’s 40 million older and disabled Americans and the providers who care for them. Responsibility for implementing the complex law and educating beneficiaries about their new options falls to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which is in the process of issuing regulations and preparing outreach materials for seniors to meet the deadlines mandated by Congress. During last year’s debate on the Medicare bill, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) actively lobbied for a number of provisions in the legislation, including improvements in the physician fee schedule, and enactment of the Geriatric Care Act (GCA). We are pleased to report that the MMA replaces a scheduled 4.5% decrease in reimbursement fees paid to geriatric health providers with an increase of 1.5% in 2004 and 2005 and incorporates two provisions based on the GCA, which are summarized below. In 2004 AGS is committed to educating its members about how the legislation will affect geriatric providers and their patients while pursuing other elements of its legislative agenda. Below is a summary of some of the major provisions of the MMA. Readers are also encouraged to consult the AGS Web page devoted exclusively to the law, located at http:// www.americangeriatrics.org/policy/medicare_info.shtml.