HCFA has launched a comprehensive five-year campaign, the National Medicare Education Program (NMEP), to raise awareness among beneficiaries about their Medicare health plan options. The goal is to ensure that beneficiaries make informed choices about their health plans, regardless of whether they stay in Original Medicare or select new options. The Transtheoretical Model (TTM, also known as the “stage model”), robust in its ability to explain and facilitate behavior change across a variety of health-related behaviors, can guide the development of tailored interventions to move beneficiaries from passive acceptance of their current plan to informed decision-making that considers all health plan options. The present paper describes the steps involved—and challenges encountered—in ongoing work to apply TTM to informed choice in the Medicare population. For example, the first step was to identify the concrete behaviors that represent “informed choice.” Informed choice was not fully defined in the mandating legislation, and at first appeared far more complex and multifaceted than other health behavior changes studied by TTM researchers. To develop a concise operational definition of informed choice, interviews and focus groups were conducted with HCFA staff and other Medicare experts until a consensus was achieved. Other steps in the application of the TTM to informed choice include: 1) development and validation of measures of the core constructs of the model, including stage of change; 2) the development of stage-matched interventions tailored to individuals’ readiness to change; and 3) the testing of the interventions in a randomized trial.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to: 1) describe the steps involved in the application of the Transtheoretical Model of Change to a new area; and 2) identify the challenges of working with large organizations on new health behavior goals for consumer populations
Keywords: Health Care, Medicare
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Pro-Change Behavior Systems; HCFA
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Employment