OIG Finds Some Medicare Drug Plan Web Sites Do Not Meet Federal Requirements

A recently released report by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) revealed that approximately one-third of the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan (PDP) sponsors’ Internet web sites did not contain all of the content required by the Medicare regulations and that eighty-five percent of the web sites did not comply with Federal requirements for accessibility.

OIG examined the web sites of all 84 PDP sponsors offering drug plans within the 50 States and the District of Columbia in 2007. Federal law requires that each PDP sponsor maintain an Internet web site for the dissemination of information to current and prospective enrollees. The web sites must contain information about prescription drug coverage under the PDP including: service area; benefits; ways of obtaining more information on cost-sharing requirements; formulary; addresses of network pharmacies; out-of-network coverage; grievances, reconsiderations, exceptions, coverage determination, and appeal rights and procedures; quality assurance policies and procedures; disenrollment rights and responsibilities; and potential for contract termination. CMS reviews the content of the web sites and approves the web sites for distribution.

According to the report, twenty-eight of the 84 PDP sponsors’ web sites, representing plan sponsors that serve 39 percent of all PDP enrollees, did not contain all of the content required by the Medicare regulations. OIG found that the most commonly omitted information from the web sites was related to enrollee disenrollment rights and responsibilities, the potential for PDP contract termination, and information related to the formulary.

Additionally, Federal law requires that PDP web sites meet specified criteria enabling individuals with disabilities to have comparable access to information about PDPs. OIG examined compliance with four of the sixteen accessibility requirements for web-based information and applications. Eighty-five percent of the PDP sponsors’ web sites, or 71 of the 84 web sites, did not meet at least one of the four Federal requirements reviewed for accessibility. Furthermore, OIG indicated that a comparison of the 2006 and 2007 web sites for PDP sponsors revealed little change in web page accessibility.

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