Medicare hires ombudsman to be "voice" of the beneficiary

CMS has hired an ombudsman as mandated by the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. The ombudsman has a number of responsibilities:

• Assist with complaints and inquiries from beneficiaries
• Assist in collecting information for filing appeals
• Help with enrollment and disenrollment problems
• Assist with premium issues
• Work to ensure beneficiaries understand and can exercise their rights

The ombudsman, Dan Schreiner, is currently a health care policy analyst. He has worked in the Dept. of Health and Human Services before and at T. Rowe Price, where he focused on participant services.It will be interesting to see how Mr. Schreiner defines the role and what he can achieve.