FYI, be aware.
Stroke treatment differs between traditional Medicare, Medicare Advantage, study finds
Patients on traditional Medicare plans were less likely to have access to certain stroke-preventing care versus those on Medicare Advantage but were also more likely to receive intensive post-stroke care and rehabilitation, according to a January study published in the Journal of Comparative Effectiveness.
“Our research suggests that changes in Medicare insurance, including the growth of private insurance through Medicare Advantage, could be important for stroke patients,” said researcher Jonathan R. Crowe, MD, MPH, MSc, a neurologist and stroke expert at UVA Health and the University of Virginia School of Medicine in a statement. “In our country, people are worried about healthcare costs and how health insurance impacts patients. Those concerns are real, and they are not going away.”
The study compared patient outcomes across seven studies in the PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Science databases, which compared stroke preventive care between fee-for-service Medicare (FFS) and MA using the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 and American Heart Association/American Stroke Association national guidelines.
The results showed that compared with FFS beneficiaries, MA beneficiaries had a higher share of 90-day episodes involving a skilled nursing facility (SNF) and were admitted to a SNF for fewer days compared with FFS beneficiaries during post-acute care. MA plans also had statistically significantly higher percentages of patients living in the community for 90 days after hospital discharge, patients continuously living in the community following discharge from IRF or SNF, and patients living in the community at the end of a 90-day episode.
The authors note that obtaining more clinical data would help clarify the differences in care received. They suggest that the results of the research be used to inform future healthcare policies to better reach underserved populations.
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