BMA in the News
July 12, 2018

Healthcare Dive: MA outperforms traditional Medicare for people with chronic conditions, study finds

Dive Brief:

  • Medicare Advantage enrollees with chronic conditions had 23% fewer inpatient stays and 33% fewer emergency room visits than beneficiaries in traditional fee-for-service Medicare, according to an Avalere Health study released Wednesday. There were similar results for dual-eligible beneficiaries, among which MA recipients had 33% fewer hospitalizations, 42% fewer ER visits and 20% lower costs.
  • Chronic care patients with MA plans also performed better than those in FFS in higher rates of preventive screenings and tests, along with other key quality measures. Among clinically complex and dual-eligible/low-income subsidy beneficiaries, cost savings and quality of health were significantly better for MA beneficiaries than F
  • The study sampled more than 1 million beneficiaries in MA and FFS each and compared metrics in three populations with chronic conditions: hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes — all of which are in the top five most common conditions among Medicare recipients.
Sign Up for Policy Alerts

Sign up to receive exclusive updates on Medicare Advantage policy.