Medicare beneficiaries also eligible for Medicaid - the duals - are a heterogeneous, vulnerable, high-cost, high-priority group. Duals are on average sicker than Medicare beneficiaries not eligible for Medicaid, often with multiple chronic conditions. Conflicting regulations and incentives between Medicare and Medicaid fragment care, reduce quality, and increase total spending. With their complex needs, dually eligible individuals are especially likely to benefit from coordinated care, yet this group is less likely than other Medicare beneficiaries to enroll in coordinated care plans. The juxtaposition of high need and cost, an inefficient Medicare/Medicaid partnership, and overreliance on fragmented care models creates an opportunity for policy to both improve care and economize on public funds. Eight states have signed a memorandum of agreement with CMS, and one state (Massachusetts) has already launched its demonstration. A fundamental and innovative feature of the new state models for duals is a restructured choice environment, in which a dual beneficiary must opt-out of a coordinated care plan rather than, as now, opt-in. Project 4 focusses on the supply, demand, and normative properties of this design choice inspired by findings in behavioral economics. Using national data and data from three selected states (California, Illinois and Massachusetts) we study supply by plans in the two regimes, including examining plan decisions about supplemental benefits. We also compare choices by dual beneficiaries in the opt-in and opt-out environments, assessing the relative importance of standard choice variables and factors that may be associated with cognitive errors. Finally, we apply theory-based assessments of the functioning of the opt-in versus opt-out choice environments, drawing on research from behavioral economics, public finance and health insurance markets.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Research Program Projects (P01)
Project #
5P01AG032952-07
Application #
9110085
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZAG1-ZIJ-8)
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2016-04-01
Budget End
2017-03-31
Support Year
7
Fiscal Year
2016
Total Cost
$143,392
Indirect Cost
$58,762
Name
Harvard Medical School
Department
Type
DUNS #
047006379
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02115
Barnett, Michael L; McWilliams, J Michael (2018) Changes in specialty care use and leakage in Medicare accountable care organizations. Am J Manag Care 24:e141-e149
Roberts, Eric T; Hatfield, Laura A; McWilliams, J Michael et al. (2018) Changes In Hospital Utilization Three Years Into Maryland's Global Budget Program For Rural Hospitals. Health Aff (Millwood) 37:644-653
Gilstrap, Lauren G; Huskamp, Haiden A; Stevenson, David G et al. (2018) Changes In End-Of-Life Care In The Medicare Shared Savings Program. Health Aff (Millwood) 37:1693-1700
McWilliams, J Michael; Hatfield, Laura A; Landon, Bruce E et al. (2018) Medicare Spending after 3 Years of the Medicare Shared Savings Program. N Engl J Med 379:1139-1149
Roberts, Eric T; McWilliams, J Michael; Hatfield, Laura A et al. (2018) Changes in Health Care Use Associated With the Introduction of Hospital Global Budgets in Maryland. JAMA Intern Med 178:260-268
Schwartz, Aaron L; Zaslavsky, Alan M; Landon, Bruce E et al. (2018) Low-Value Service Use in Provider Organizations. Health Serv Res 53:87-119
Ganguli, Ishani; Souza, Jeffrey; McWilliams, J Michael et al. (2018) Practices Caring For The Underserved Are Less Likely To Adopt Medicare's Annual Wellness Visit. Health Aff (Millwood) 37:283-291
Chen, Julius L; Hicks, Andrew L; Chernew, Michael E (2018) Prices for physician services in Medicare Advantage versus traditional Medicare. Am J Manag Care 24:341-344
Landon, Bruce E; Zaslavsky, Alan M; Souza, Jeffrey et al. (2018) Trends in Diabetes Treatment and Monitoring among Medicare Beneficiaries. J Gen Intern Med 33:471-480
Roberts, Eric T; Zaslavsky, Alan M; McWilliams, J Michael (2018) The Value-Based Payment Modifier: Program Outcomes and Implications for Disparities. Ann Intern Med 168:255-265

Showing the most recent 10 out of 85 publications