Get Connected “Our” Online Community and Internet Projects Who, What, Where, When and Why

1. Get Connected “Our” Online Community and Internet ProjectsWho, What, Where, When and Why Wendy Zenker Vice President of Mobilization Benefits Access Group National Council on Aging Hilary Sohmer Dalin Moderator, MyMedicareCommunity Project Manager, My Medicare Matters Navigator Project National Council on Aging

2. Today’s Discussion Two technology-focused initiatives: 1.MyMedicareCommunity.org, an online community for professionals who work with Medicare 2.My Medicare MattersNavigatorProject. for beneficiaries and their families • Consumers learn more about Medicare through guided tours of designated Internet sites • A precursor or supplement to counseling and assistance activities

3. Why an online community? • As we know all too well, our health care “system” for elders and persons with disabilities grows more complex daily. • Complexity is generating exponential growth in demand for benefits counseling. • Benefits counseling professionals are experiencing a resultant need for: • Reliable, accurate and timely information • Opportunities for discussion about issues • Sharing of best practices

4. What is an online community? • A Web site with real-time interactive capabilities that: • Allows like-minded people in distant locations to communicate easily and quickly with each other about current ideas, issues, best practices • Enables up-to-date learning, research and answers to questions

5. Who’s in Charge? • Members are in the driver’s seat • Moderators • Evolutionary • The “Community” itself is a learning environment • We are prepared to continually reinvent ourselves until we find the “secret sauce”

6. Introducing MyMedicareCommunity • MyMedicareCommunity is an online community for professionals, including volunteers, who educate, counsel and assist Medicare beneficiaries and their families and caregivers • Provides information and communications solutions that are • Timely • Accurate • Understandable • Action-oriented

7. Overview of MyMedicareCommunity • YOU are the community. Any online community is only as strong as its members and users. • Articles, Forums, Calendar, News • Initial Focus on Part D

8. What you can do onwww.MyMedicareCommunity.org Communicate with colleagues and experts to: • find useful information, • share promising practices, • gain a better understanding of new policies and procedures, • ask questions, and work together to try to solve problems. • Find important stories in the news, • a calendar of upcoming events, and • resources that will help you do your job better.

9. MyMedicareCommunity Discussions • Talk about: • Medicare Part D • Extra Help • Medicare Advantage • Community Education and Benefits Counseling • Recent topics: • Outreach to rural populations around Extra Help • Criteria and scope of the Medicare Part D Special Enrollment Period for nursing home residents • Understanding Medigap vs. PFFS plans

10. MyMedicareCommunityContent • Content intended to support the Community discussions • Content re-organization soon to come • Make the content • More intuitive and • Easier to navigate • Focus will remain on Part D for now • Will evolve with the Community

11. A Tour Click on the Join Now button to register

12. How to Sign Up

13. MyMedicareCommunity Content

14. MyMedicareCommunity Discussion

15. MyMedicareCommunity Discussion

16. How MyMedicareCommunity Helps You • Conversations happen all over the country • Let’s join together and support each other • Learn how others approach similar issues • Get and share answers to questions to assure accuracy and timeliness of response • MyMedicareCommunity is a learning community • The Community evolves as we all learn and grow together

17. My Medicare Matters Navigator • Pilot project to • test methods of enabling seniors, their families, friends and caregivers: • to learn more about Medicare • by surfing specific credible Web sites, • guided by trained Navigators. • Educate, then act • Offered at sites that have computers available for students

18. Navigator Project: How it Works • Navigators are trained to direct seniors, their families and community members • to credible Web sites to learn about Medicare eligibility and benefits and • refer to trustworthy local sources of personalized counseling when needed • Navigators are not Medicare experts • Many pilot sites already have SHIP-trained counselors • SHIP is the primary referral source for Navigators

19. Navigator Project: Which Web Sites? • The Web sites: • Let’s Talk about Medicare (Kaiser Family Foundation) • Medicare.gov (CMS) • MyMedicareMatters (NCOA) • MyMedicare.gov (CMS) • BenefitsCheckUp (NCOA)

20. Navigator Project: Pilot Sites • Goal is 150 sites by end of 2007 • Sites include • Senior Centers • Area Agencies of Aging • Libraries • University lifelong learning centers • Faith-based programs

21. Your Feedback & Questions • What do you think about the concept of an online community for professionals, including volunteers, who work with Medicare beneficiaries? • How are you/will you use it? • Usefulness for your volunteer counselors? • How can we improve MyMedicareCommunity to meet your needs? • What other topics related to your work with Medicare beneficiaries would you like MyMedicareCommunity to address next? • Do you have suggested sites for the My Medicare Matters Navigator Project? • What other questions and ideas do you have for us?

22. How to Contact Us Wendy Zenker Vice President of Mobilization Benefits Access Group National Council on Aging Wendy.Zenker@ncoa.org (202) 479-6618 Hilary Sohmer Dalin Moderator, MyMedicareCommunity Project Manager, My Medicare Matters Navigator Project National Council on Aging Hilary.Dalin@ncoa.org (202) 479-6626