News Briefs: New CMS Report Finds Non-White Medicare Advantage Enrollees Continue to Receive Worse Care

May 05
May 05, 2022

A new report looking at disparities in care for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries by race, ethnicity and sex found that non-white MA enrollees generally received worse care in 2020 than their white counterparts. Racial and ethnic differences were more glaring for clinical care measures than for patient experience measures, with scores for Black MA enrollees falling below the national average for 14 out of 36 clinical care measures, according to the April report, which was prepared by The RAND Corp. for the CMS Office of Minority Health. Researchers relied on Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) data collected from March to May 2021 and the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set reflecting care received from January to December 2020. White enrollees reported care that was in line with the national average on all patient experience measures from the CAHPS survey, while their scores were similar to the national average on 31 clinical care measures and above average on five measures. Scores for American Indian and Alaska Native MA enrollees were also below the national average on 14 clinical care measures, and scores for Hispanic MA beneficiaries were worse than average on 11 such measures. Read more
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Lauren Flynn Kelly

Lauren has been covering health business issues since the early 2000s and specializes in in-depth reporting on Medicare Advantage, managed Medicaid and Medicare Part D. She also possesses a deep understanding of the complex world of pharmacy benefit management, having written AIS Health’s Radar on Drug Benefits from 2004 to 2005 and again from 2011 to 2016. In addition to her role as managing editor of Radar on Medicare Advantage, she oversees AIS Health’s publications and manages the health editorial staff. She graduated from Vassar College with a B.A. in English.

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