Senior Medicare Patrol - Advisewell, Inc.

About

SMP Mission

Senior Medicare Patrols (SMPs) empower and assist Medicare beneficiaries, their families, and caregivers to prevent, detect, and report health care fraud, errors, and abuse through outreach, counseling, and education. SMPs are grant-funded projects of the federal U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL). Their work is in three main areas:

1. Conduct Outreach and Education. SMPs give presentations to groups, exhibit at events, and work one-on-one with Medicare beneficiaries to prevent, detect, and report potential Medicare fraud. 
2. Engage Volunteers. The SMP program is a volunteer-based program. Protecting older persons’ health, finances, and medical identity while saving precious Medicare dollars is a cause that attracts civic-minded people to volunteer for the SMP program. 
3. Receive Beneficiary Complaints. When Medicare beneficiaries, caregivers, and family members bring their complaints to the SMP, the SMP makes a determination about whether or not fraud, errors, or abuse is suspected. When fraud or abuse is suspected, they make referrals to the appropriate state and federal agencies for further investigation.

SMP Projects

SMPs are discretionary grant projects funded by the U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL). ACL is headed by the assistant secretary for aging, who is appointed by the president and serves under the U.S. secretary for Health and Human Services.

Every five years, ACL issues a new request for proposals for the SMP program and then competitively awards grants to a selected project in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Your Senior Medicare Patrol Community Outreach Specialist for the South Georgia Area is Gayla Yochum. Born and raised in Georgia, she was a Special Education Teacher for 20 years and feels strongly connected to the community.  Gayla is happy to help you learn more about Senior Medicare Patrol and collaborate with community sponsors to bring the SMP mission to all of South Georgia. You can call her locally at 229-278-5556 for further information or questions about setting up health care events or quick health fraud education classes for your church, community, or group. Gayla makes the classes informative, fun, and best of all they are FREE!  Our organization is non-profit and does not ask for any money or personal information from our class or event participants. 

Want to VOLUNTEER to get the word out about Medicare Fraud?   Email her at gyochum@advisewell.org. or call toll free at 877-272-8720. 

https://www.smpresource.org

www.StopMedicareFraud.org

www.AdviseWell.org

https://www.facebook.com/georgiasmp