Does Medicaid coverage of Medicare cost sharing affect physician care for dual-eligible Medicare beneficiaries?

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To assess changes in physicians' provision of care to duals (low-income individuals with Medicare and Medicaid) in response to a policy that required Medicaid to fully pay Medicare's cost sharing for office visits with these patients. This policy-a provision of the Affordable Care Act-effectively increased payments for office visits with duals by 0%-20%, depending on the state, in 2013 and 2014.

Data sources

Fee-for-service claims for a 5% random sample of Medicare beneficiaries in 2010-2016.

Study design

We conducted a difference-in-differences analysis to compare changes in office visits among Qualified Medicare Beneficiaries (QMBs)-the largest subpopulation of duals for whom payment rates were affected by this policy-to changes among other low-income Medi

SUBMITTER: Roberts ET 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8143678 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature