Senior Medicare Patrol Program (NCSMP)

The North Carolina Senior Medicare Patrol (NCSMP) Program is housed within the Seniors’ Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP) at the North Carolina Department of Insurance. NCSMP is a preventive educational program whose goal is to reduce Medicare error, fraud, and abuse through statewide coordinated efforts of educational and promotional activities and to encourage reporting of discrepancies by Medicare beneficiaries and caregivers to the NCSMP Program.

NCSMP’s purpose is to educate Medicare beneficiaries and caregivers about Medicare benefits in order to understand Medicare Statements such as Medicare Summary Notices, Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) Explanations of Benefits (EOB) and other related health care statements. Through this knowledge, a person can identify, resolve and/or report possible billing errors, fraud, abuse and waste to NCSMP.

In North Carolina, all NCSMP volunteers are fully trained SHIIP volunteers. Learn how to become a volunteer with SHIIP and NCSMP.

Did you know that:

68 billion dollars of the taxpayers’ money is lost annually to billing discrepancies, fraud, abuse and waste in the Medicare program?
“fraud and abuse” in the Medicare program often times are actually billing errors or discrepancies?
the process of reporting suspected fraud abuse and waste is to contact the provider to seek resolution; to contact their Medicare carriers and insurance companies and to file an appeal by following the appeal instructions found on the back of the Medicare Summary Notice? And if your situation is not resolved satisfactorily, you should contact the North Carolina SMP Program at the nationwide toll-free number, 855-408-1212?

Remember to:

review your Medicare statements
protect your Medicare number
do not be influenced by advertising for services, medications or products that sound “too good to be true”
educate yourself about your Medicare benefits
rarely are Medicare services “free”
Medicare does not solicit door-to-door