Coordinating Care for Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries: An Early Look

Coordinating Care for Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries: An Early Look

Trends in Health Care Financing, Issue Brief #6
Published: Dec 30, 2005
Publisher: Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research
Download
Associated Project

Medicare Coordinated Care Demonstration

Time frame: 1998-2005

Prepared for:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Authors

Randall Brown

Deborah Peikes

Jennifer Schore

The Medicare Coordinated Care Demonstration aims to improve health outcomes and reduce Medicare costs for chronically ill beneficiaries by encouraging adherence to self-care and medication regimens and improving communication among physicians. This issue brief, based on a report to Congress, presents early descriptive findings from 15 programs participating in the first year of the demonstration. Early experiences show that (1) recruiting patients was challenging, (2) most of the 10,000 beneficiaries enrolled in the first year have serious chronic illnesses, and (3) early survey data on small samples of beneficiaries and physicians suggest that the programs are popular with both groups. However, the estimates also suggest that it may be difficult to change beneficiaries' adherence to recommended medication, exercise, and diet regimens.

How do you apply evidence?

Take our quick four-question survey to help us curate evidence and insights that serve you.

Take our survey