Hispanic-White Differences in Double Bonuses for Quality of Care in Medicare Advantage.

This study uses Medicare and Medicare Advantage data to describe differences in quality care between Hispanic and non-Hispanic White patients and the association with double bonuses under Medicare Advantage.

Market Consolidation and Innovation in US Dialysis.

While patients with end-stage kidney disease have benefited from innovations in clinical therapeutics and care delivery, these changes have been primarily incremental and have not fundamentally transformed care delivery. Dialysis markets are highly concentrated, which may impede innovation. Unique features of the dialysis industry that have contributed to consolidation can help to explain links between consolidation and innovation.

Medicare Advantage Plan Double Bonuses Drive Racial Disparity In Payments, Yield No Quality Or Enrollment Improvements.

Under the Medicare Advantage (MA) quality bonus payment program, initiated in 2012, MA plans with relatively high quality performance that are located in "double bonus"-eligible counties-metropolitan areas with high MA enrollment and low fee-for-service Medicare spending-receive quality bonuses twice as large as those received by equivalently high-quality plans in double-bonus-ineligible counties. Using national data for 2008-18, we found that double bonuses were not associated with either improvements in plan quality or increased MA enrollment. Additionally, because Black beneficiaries were less likely to reside in eligible counties, double bonuses increased payments to plans to care for Black beneficiaries by $60 per year, compared with $91 for White beneficiaries.