The Association between Medicare Advantage Market Penetration and Diabetes in the United States.
The objective of this study is to explore the extent to which managed care market penetration in the United States is associated with the presence of chronic disease. Diabetes was selected as the chronic disease of interest due to its increasing prevalence as well as the disease management protocols that can lessen disease complications. We hypothesized that greater managed care market penetration would be associated with (1) lower prevalence of diabetes and (2) lower prevalence of diabetes-related comorbidities (DRCs) among diabetics. Data for this analysis came from two sources. We merged Medicare Advantage (MA) market penetration data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) with data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) (2004-2008). Results suggest that county-level MA market penetration is not significantly associated with prevalence of diabetes or DRCs. That finding is quite interesting in that managed care market penetration has been shown to have an effect on utilization of inpatient services. It may be that managed care protocols do not offer the same benefits beyond the inpatient setting.
Health Management and Policy, Center for Outcomes Research, Saint Louis University , St. Louis, MO , USA.
Steven W
SW
Howard
Health Policy and Management, School of Social and Behavioral Health Services, Oregon State University , Corvallis, OR , USA.
Stephanie Lazarus
SL
Bernell
Biostatistics, Saint Louis University , St. Louis, MO , USA.
Jennifer
J
Wilmott
HealthCom Research and Solutions, Inc. , Fredericksburg, VA , USA.
M Faizan
MF
Casim
Biostatistics, Saint Louis University , St. Louis, MO , USA.
Jing
J
Wang
Saint Luke's Health System , Kansas City, MO , USA.
Lindsey
L
Pearson
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center , Houston, TX , USA.
Caitlin M
CM
Byler
Jefferson County Health Department , Hillsboro, MO , USA.
Zidong
Z
Zhang
MEPS; Medicare Advantage; cardiometabolic conditions; cardiovascular disease; diabetes; market penetration; spillover effects