What Your Patients Need to Know for Medicare Open Enrollment

The annual Medicare open enrollment period runs October 15 to December 7 this year, giving adults ages 65 and older the opportunity to review and possibly change their healthcare coverage.

By
November 5, 2026
2 min

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center

At a Glance

Category	Detail
Condition	Medicare coverage and access to cancer care
Key Mechanisms	Individual Medicare Advantage plans may change benefits, provider networks, and coverage options. Out-of-network authorizations might be available, and continuity-of-care rules allow certain patients in active treatment to continue care out of network for a certain amount of time into the new year.
Target Population	Adults ages 65 and older reviewing healthcare coverage, including patients navigating a cancer diagnosis or ongoing treatment.
Care Setting	Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and patients throughout Western New York and beyond.

Key Highlights

The annual Medicare Open Enrollment period runs October 15 to December 7 this year.
Coverage changes may affect some patients’ access to care in 2027.
Roswell Park continues to participate in Original Medicare and Medicaid, remains in-network with several individual Medicare Advantage plans and most group retiree plans, and reports no changes to its participation in non-Medicare commercial and employer plans.
If a patient loses in-network access to Roswell Park, out-of-network authorizations might be available. Continuity-of-care rules allow certain patients in active treatment to continue receiving care out of network for a certain amount of time into the new year.

Guideline-Based Recommendations

Diagnosis

Management

Monitoring & Follow-up

Risks

Patient & Prescribing Data

Adults ages 65 and older reviewing healthcare coverage, including patients navigating a cancer diagnosis or ongoing treatment.

Patients can visit Roswellpark.org/medicare or call 716-845-8760 for Medicare Open Enrollment resources. For questions about a specific patient or referral, clinicians can call the Physician Referral Office at 716-845-7763.