Urge Medicare to Cover Annual Alcohol Screening Services The federal government has
proposed that Medicare begin paying for annual alcohol screening for adults and pregnant women and up to four brief counseling sessions provided in a primary care setting for those who test positive for risky drinking.
The public has been invited to comment on this plan before August 18, 2011. Please join us in filing a comment today in favor of this proposal and urge your colleagues to do the same. See below for sample language you can use and a link to the online comment form. Coverage for alcohol screening and brief interventions as a core medical care service will send a powerful message that identification and intervention for alcohol problems should be part of routine primary care. Screening and brief intervention have been proven to have a sustained impact on reduced alcohol use and will therefore have major benefits both for patients and for overall medical care costs, as excessive drinking often makes other medical problems worse and harder to treat.
In addition, Medicare coverage often sets the standard for other insurance benefits. If this proposal takes effect, other insurers may follow Medicare's lead and provide the same coverage for people participating in their plans.
Please take a moment now to express your support for this important proposal. Click here to complete the online comment form.
After you take action, reply to this email to let us know – and please forward this message to your colleagues so that their voices can be heard as well.
Sample wording for your message: It is important to take a moment to personalize the draft language below. You may wish to first
review the proposal and
read the public comments already submitted.
Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services is particularly interested in any new published clinical evidence about which they may not be aware. Personal stories are less helpful to their deliberations as they cannot be verified. Cut and paste your personalized comments into the
online comment form.
I support the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services proposed decision memo for "Screening and Brief Counseling Intervention in Primary Care to Reduce Alcohol Misuse." It is well established that alcohol misuse causes a host of social and medical ills, exacerbates existing health problems and makes patients more difficult to treat. 
