Top-Rated Health Care and Ease of Access to Medications Linked to Lower Medicare and ADRD Costs.

IMPORTANCE

Little is known about the extent to which patient self-perception of care experience is associated with costs, especially for people with Alzheimer disease and related dementias (ADRD).

OBJECTIVE

This study explores the relationship between self-reported quality measures and Medicare costs and examines whether the ease of obtaining prescribed medications is associated with reduced overall Medicare costs, focusing on Medicare beneficiaries with ADRD.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: In this cross-sectional study, Medicare Beneficiary Summary File data from 2018, 2019, and 2021 were linked to the Medicare Consumer Assessment of Health Care Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Survey using beneficiary IDs. The study sample included community-dwelling Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries.

EXPOSURES

Five quality measures were used as key exposure variables: (1) beneficiary's rating on health care; (2) ease of getting care/tests/treatment through the health plan; (3) whether the doctor always explained, listened, respected; and spent enough time with the patient; (4) ease of obtaining prescribed medications; and (5) whether doctor always talked about all the prescription medicines the beneficiary was taking.

MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURE

Annual total Medicare payments per person.

RESULTS

The study included 230,617 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries aged 65 and older, including 16,452 beneficiaries with ADRD. Among the total beneficiaries, 53% were females (vs. 56% of ADRD beneficiaries), with a mean (SD) age of 75.8 (SD 7.27) years [vs. 82.5 (SD 7.97) years for ADRD beneficiaries]. Fully adjusted analyses showed significant negative associations between quality measures and total per-capita payments, with more pronounced cost reductions among patients with ADRD. Specifically, patients with ADRD who reported it was always easy to get care had reductions of $1,922.0 (95% CI, -$3304.8 to -$539.2), while those who reported it was always easy to get prescribed medications had reductions of $2964.5 (95% CI, -$4518.8 to -$1410.1). In addition, beneficiaries who reported that doctors always discussed the medicines experienced cost reductions of $2299.7 (95% CI, -$3800.5 to -$799.0) in medicare costs.

CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE

Our findings suggest that high-quality care is not necessarily associated with high costs. Meanwhile, focusing on the ease of access to needed care, obtaining prescription drugs, and effective communication about medication is critical in improving care quality while reducing costs.