title: Racial variation in quality of care among Medicare+Choice enrollees.
abstract: This paper examines racial variation in quality of and access to care experienced by elderly persons enrolled in Medicare+Choice plans. We used eight individual-level Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measures to compare whites with blacks, Asians, Hispanics, and Native Americans. Across all measures, black enrollees received lower-quality care. Hispanics and Native Americans were less likely to receive some types of care but were as likely or more likely to receive other types of care. Asians received equal or better care for all measures. It is important that studies of health care quality include all racial subgroups since the black/white patterns may not apply.
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Services Research and Policy, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, USA.
authors.forename: Beth A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Virnig
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lurie
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Dorothea
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Musgrave
authors.forename: A Marshall
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: McBean
authors.forename: Bryan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dowd
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D000368:Aged; D001213:Asian; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American; D008297:Male; D020398:Medicare Part C / Q000592:standards*; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States; D044465:White People