As we come to the New Year, we at CMS wanted to let you know how much we value our partnership with you. We have accomplished much over the past year – from educating beneficiaries about the new benefit to assisting over a million people with Medicare to enroll in a plan. There is still much work to be done and most importantly, we want to do all we can to ensure the smoothest of transitions to this new program starting January 1, 2006.

While CMS has done significant education and systems work to allow for a smooth start to the new benefit, we want to provide you with some information which might be helpful in the event some of the beneficiaries you serve encounter issues in using their benefit in early January. We have developed a chart of potential situations beneficiaries, especially full benefit dual eligible beneficiaries, may encounter. This list of scenarios is designed to assist you and your colleagues to quickly respond to any inquiries or problems you may receive. Please distribute the scenarios as you think appropriate.

Should you encounter situations not covered in this chart, please send those to the CMS Regional Office Part D Assistance Center for your state at the email address listed below. As these new scenarios are submitted and answered, they will be added to those that are currently in the chart, so check back often. The partnership website is located at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/center/partner.asp and the scenarios are in the Prescription Drug Coverage section at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/partnerships/downloads/whatif1.pdf

Again, please know how appreciative we are of all your efforts and we look forward to our continued partnership and service to all people with Medicare.

CMS’ Regional Office Part D Assistance Centers
Region/State and E-Mail

Region One – Boston – CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT
BostonPartDInquiries@cms.hhs.gov

Region Two – New York – NJ, NY, PR, VI
PartDComplaints_RO2@cms.hhs.gov

Region Three – Philadelphia – DC, DE, MD, PA, VA, WV
PartDComplaints_RO3@cms.hhs.gov

Region Four – Atlanta – AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN
PartDComplaints_RO4@cms.hhs.gov

Region Five – Chicago – IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI
ROCHIDMO@cms.hhs.gov

Region Six – Dallas – AR, LA, NM, OK, TX
rodalmma@cms.hhs.gov

Region Seven – Kansas City – IA, KS, MO, NE
PARTDISSUES@cms.hhs.gov

Region Eight – Denver – CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, WY
Den_drughelp@cms.hhs.gov

Region Nine – San Francisco – AS, AZ, CA, GU, HI, MP, NV
Ro9drugteam@cms.hhs.gov

Region Ten – Seattle – AK, ID, OR, WA
BeneficiaryServices@cms.hhs.gov