- Center on Health Equity & Access
- Clinical
- Health Care Cost
- Health Care Delivery
- Insurance
- Policy
- Technology
- Value-Based Care
Reform Update: Medicare Managed Care Linked to Overall Savings, Study Finds
Hospital visits are shorter and less costly for all patients in markets with more of them enrolled in Medicare managed care, according to new research. The results suggest hospitals make far-reaching changes to delivery as incentives to better manage care increase.
Incentives to coordinate care prompt investments, such as information technology, and widespread adoption of new delivery models that ultimately benefit all patients, regardless of insurance, a trio of Harvard University researchers wrote in a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Hospital costs for enrollees in traditional fee-for-service Medicare would drop by $600 million when the Medicare Advantage market share increases 5 percentage points of the market, according to an analysis of spending at the county level in five states.
Read the full story here: http://bit.ly/10EgPlF
Source: Modern Healthcare
Similar outcomes may be true for other Medicare models—including accountable care and bundled payments under health reform—that seek to incentivize greater care management as managed care does, said Katherine Baicker, a health economics professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, who co-authored the paper with Michael Chernew and Jacob Robbins.
Hospital Participation in Medicare ACOs: No Change in Admission Practices and Spending
August 19th 2025Hospital accountable care organization (ACO) participation did not impact emergency department admission rates, length of stay, or costs, suggesting limited effectiveness in reducing spending for unplanned admissions and challenging hospital-led ACO cost-saving strategies.
Read More
Laundromats as a New Frontier in Community Health, Medicaid Outreach
May 29th 2025Lindsey Leininger, PhD, and Allister Chang, MPA, highlight the potential of laundromats as accessible, community-based settings to support Medicaid outreach, foster trust, and connect families with essential health and social services.
Listen
Care Quality Metrics in Medicare During COVID-19 Pandemic
August 12th 2025Medicare Advantage outperformed traditional Medicare on clinical quality measures before and during the COVID-19 pandemic; mid-pandemic, however, traditional Medicare narrowed the gap on some in-person screenings.
Read More
