Are Medicare Advantage patients healthier than Medicare fees-for-service beneficiaries? That’s one question Daniel D. Matlock, M.D., University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora, and his colleagues are asking after finding that Medicare Advantage beneficiaries have lower rates for cardiovascular procedures compared to the other Medicare group.
The recent
study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that Medicare Advantage beneficiaries had significantly lower rates for angiographies and percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs). No significant differences were seen between the Medicare groups in the rates of urgent angiography.
Noting that treatment of cardiovascular disease costs $273 billion a year in the United States, researchers wrote that “little is known about how different financial incentives between Medicare Advantage and Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) reimbursement structures influence use of cardiovascular procedures.”
But another explanation for the difference could be the health of the beneficiaries, noted researchers. Also found in the study was a substantial geographic variation for the rate of cardiovascular procedures.