“What’s Covered”: CMS Launches its First-Ever Patient Facing App

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has launched its first ever consumer facing mobile application. The app “What’s Covered”, is available both on iOS and Android for all Original Medicare beneficiaries. Users will be able to search for medical products and procedures to determine their coverage. With more than 65% of Medicare users online, the app aims to provide accurate answers to many of the inquiries that the CMS receives. The service is part of a larger CMS initiative called eMedicare. It focuses on modernizing Medicare to help beneficiaries access their claims data by providing APIs to third-party software developers. In addition to the app, eMedicare also includes several web-based solutions, including price transparency tools, information on the differences between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage, and intuitive surveys on the user experience of these tools.