Funding Opportunity: Senior Medicare Patrol Projects
Update April 27, 2023: The Senior Medicare Patrol State Project Grants Updated Fiscal Year 2023 State Amounts document is now available.
Opportunity ID: HHS-2023-ACL-CIP-MPPG-0006
Application deadline: February 15, 2023
ACL recently released a new notice of funding opportunity for the Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) program's state and territorial projects. ACL anticipates awarding approximately $27 million a year through up to 56 new 5-year cooperative agreements to support SMP projects in each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
The mission of the SMP program is to 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, SMP increases awareness and understanding of health care programs to protect beneficiaries from the economic and health-related consequences associated with Medicare fraud, errors, and abuse.
ACL currently provides grant funding to support 54 SMP state projects, including grantees in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The projects use this funding to provide local outreach, education, and assistance to beneficiaries through a trained workforce, many of which are volunteers. SMP projects teach beneficiaries to protect their Medicare numbers, to detect billing discrepancies on their Medicare statements, and to report suspicious activity for further investigation. In addition, SMP projects actively disseminate fraud prevention and identification information through the media, outreach campaigns, and community events. As a result of these efforts, beneficiaries contact the SMP projects with inquiries and complaints regarding potential Medicare fraud. SMPs provide in-depth counseling and assistance to help beneficiaries with questions and issues.
ACL recently hosted an informational webinar on this funding opportunity; view the webinar recording and additional information about the funding opportunity.