Health Care Financ R
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Health Care Financ R · Jan 2001
Comparative StudyUse of preventive care services, beneficiary characteristics, and Medicare HMO performance.
Medicare health maintenance organization (HMO) enrollees use more preventive care services than their fee-for-service (FFS) counterparts. This may be because those who enroll in HMOs have characteristics that make them more disposed to use preventive care. ⋯ However, after adjusting for enrollee characteristics (sociodemographics, health behaviors, health status, and functioning) we found that preventive care use rates for HMO enrollees were substantially higher--consistent with HMO enrollees being less disposed to use preventive care. In comparing preventive care service rates across groups, managers and policymakers may want to consider taking into account beneficiary characteristics that are correlated with the disposition to use preventive care.
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The Medicare+Choice (M+C) program, created by the 1997 Balanced Budget Act (BBA), expands Medicare's health insurance options to include a wider range of health plan options. In this article, we describe the Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Study (CAHPS(®)) survey and its use with beneficiaries receiving care through Medicare managed care (MMC) plans. We also discuss the implications of these efforts for future quality improvement efforts.