Premium
Does the Racial/Ethnic Composition of Medicare Advantage Plans Reflect Their Areas of Operation?
Author(s) -
Weinick Robin,
Haviland Amelia,
Hambarsoomian Katrin,
Elliott Marc N.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
health services research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.706
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1475-6773
pISSN - 0017-9124
DOI - 10.1111/1475-6773.12100
Subject(s) - ethnic group , medicaid , residence , incentive , payment , ethnic composition , medicine , quality (philosophy) , data collection , business , racial composition , medicare advantage , principal (computer security) , gerontology , health care , environmental health , demography , race (biology) , population , economic growth , finance , political science , economics , computer science , philosophy , mathematics , law , biology , microeconomics , operating system , epistemology , statistics , botany , sociology
Objective To assess the extent to which the racial/ethnic composition of Medicare Advantage ( MA ) plans reflects the composition of their areas of operation, given the potential incentives created by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Quality Bonus Payments for such plans to avoid enrolling racial/ethnic minority beneficiaries. Data Sources/Study Setting 2009 Medicare Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems ( MCAHPS ) survey and administrative data from the Medicare Enrollment Database. Data Collection/Extraction Methods We defined each plan's area of operation as all counties in which it had MA enrollees, and we created a matrix of race/ethnicity by plan by county of residence to assess the racial/ethnic distribution of each plan's enrollees in comparison with the racial/ethnic composition of MA beneficiaries in its operational area. Principal Findings There is little evidence that health plans are selectively underenrolling blacks, Latinos, or Asians to a substantial degree. A small but potentially important subset of plans disproportionately serves minority beneficiaries. Conclusions These findings provide a baseline profile that will enable crucial ongoing monitoring to assess how the implementation of Quality Bonus Payments may affect MA plan coverage of minority populations.