The primary goal is to teach Medicare beneficiaries how to protect their personal identity, identify and report errors on their health care bills, and identify deceptive health care practices, such as illegal marketing, providing unnecessary or inappropriate services and charging for services that were never provided. In some cases, SMPs do more than educate: When Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries are unable to act on their own behalf to address these problems, the SMPs work with family, caregivers and others to address the problems, and if necessary, make referrals to outside organizations who are able to intervene.
Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi SMP are programs sponsored by AdviseWell, Inc. and are funded through a grant from the Administration for Community Living. AdviseWell, Inc., has been the sponsor of Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) in Louisiana since 2009, in Mississippi since 2015 and in Georgia since 2018. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as the healthcare reform bill, projects that reforms will save Medicare $500 billion dollars over 10 years. One way to save money will be putting a stop to the $60 billion lost each year to fraud, errors, and abuse. SMP will play a vital role in the fight against Medicare fraud. The AdviseWell, Inc., SMP programs have been contributory in the recuperation of over $28 million in the past three years.