Medicare Web Site Confounds Many Seniors (HealthDay)

TUESDAY, Aug. 19 (HealthDay News) -- A majority of seniors whovisit the Medicare Web site find getting the information they need afrustrating experience, University of Miami researchers report.

Whether trying to determine their eligibility for home health care orwhich Medicare drug plan is best for them, most seniors found Medicare'sWeb site difficult to use. Yet, many seniors say, the Internet could be avaluable source of medical information.

"Medicare Web site is somewhat difficult for people to use," said leadresearcher Sara J. Czaja, co-director of the Center on Aging at theuniversity's Miller School of Medicine. "They find it confusing and overlycomplex."

Participants in the study found the Medicare site difficult to navigatefrom page to page, and hard to get the information they needed, Czajasaid. Moreover, some of the information was confusing, and some of thelanguage was too complex, she added.

"When E-health tools are designed, designers really have to think abouta broad and inclusive group of users and what their needs and abilitiesare," Czaja said.

Designers may be too concerned with getting all the content on the siteat the expense of making it user-friendly, Czaja said.

The report was published in a research letter in the Aug. 19 issue ofthe Journal of the American Medical Association.

For the study, Czaja's team had 112 people aged 50 and older, who wereall computer-literate, attempt to navigate the Medicare Web site.

The participants were asked to use the Web site to determine theireligibility for home health care services, select a home health careagency, make a decision about enrolling in the Medicare part Dprescription drug program, and select a drug plan.

The researchers found 68.8 percent of the participants weren't able toget specific information about the criteria for home health care services,and 80.4 percent could not choose the correct home health agency.

In addition, 83.9 percent weren't able to do the computation necessaryfor making a decision about which home health care plan to enroll in. Infact, only 57.1 percent were able to make a decision about which plan toenroll in.

When it came to enrolling in the Medicare part D prescription drugprogram, 72.3 percent had problems navigating the necessary Web pages,locating information, and following the steps necessary for selecting aplan, the researchers found.

"We really have to think who we are designing these Web sites for, whattheir needs are, and what their capabilities are," Czaja said. "We can'tassume that everyone has a sophisticated level of computer skills."

Allison Henry, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Centers for Medicare andMedicaid Services, doesn't think the site has the problems suggested bythe study. Henry is not sure what the participants in the study were askedto do. "Without that information, we question the usefulness of thestudy," she said.

Henry noted that a number of tools have been added to the site to helpMedicare beneficiaries make their health-care decisions. "CMS has workedto organize and format these tools in a consumer-friendly manner byconducting both qualitative and quantitative research of the Web sitetools with multiple audiences."

All these online tools are tested by people likely to use the site,Henry said. "The information gathered from testing is used to makeimprovements to the Web site. Our research is ongoing, and the Web sitecontinues to make enhancements on an incremental basis."

Robert Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center, thinks the Website's complexity is a reflection of the complexity of Medicareitself.

"It would be nice to have an administration more committed to peopleunderstanding what their rights are," Hayes said. "The administrationcould provide better quality services with more accuracy."

"In fairness, it's also true that Congress and the Bush administrationhas made so much of Medicare so complex that even folks with the best ofintentions are going to be misdirecting consumers," Hayes said.

The solution to the problem is twofold, Hayes noted. First, there needsto be a commitment to greater quality and an effort to respond to consumerneeds. Second, the next Congress needs to streamline and simplify Medicareprograms, including the part D prescription drug benefit program andMedicare Advantage, Hayes said.

"It's absolutely true that the complexity that President Bush hasbrought to Medicare during his two terms in office has been unfortunate,"Hayes said.

More information

To see the Medicare Web site, visit the .