This Policy Brief examines the viability of introducing private competition into the Medicare program by studying the availability of Medicare+Choice (M+C), commercial HMO, and Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) plans in rural (nonmetropolitan) counties. The Brief also presents evidence regarding the variables that influence plan availability and impact plan choice across counties in the U.S. The findings in this Brief will be useful to policymakers considering using a competitive model to design a Medicare prescription drug benefit or to redesign the entire Medicare program. As changes in the Medicare program are considered, the information in this Brief will provide background regarding rural participation in earlier Medicare program changes and in other programs said to be models for change.
Objective: To compare differences in pain, depression, function, and informal caregiving pre-and-post major elective surgery among older adults with and without serious illness; and determine if serious illness was independently associated with increasing pain, depression, assistance in activities of daily living (ADLs) and informal caregiving post-surgery.
Background: The American College of Surgeons has endorsed the integration of palliative care (PC) into surgical care in adults with serious illness but targets for PC during surgical episodes such as pain, depression, function, and informal caregiving are understudied.
Methods: We used Health and Retirement Study-linked Medicare data (2008-2018) to identify older (≥66 y) adults with and without serious illness who had major elective surgery.
Background: As part of Electrophysiology Predictable and Sustainable Implementation of National Registries (EP PASSION), a multi-stakeholder collaboration between the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), academic and society partners, and cardiovascular implantable electronic device manufacturers, a 5-year bradycardia lead study transitioned from a traditional post-approval study (PAS) to a real-world data (RWD) approach using a novel method to evaluate chronic cardiac lead complications.
Methods: Lead complications were identified using a combination of diagnosis and procedure codes from 2013 to 2020 fee-for-service Medicare claims data along with BIOTRONIK device registration and Medical Device Reporting data from patients implanted between 2013 and 2015 with a Solia S lead. A proof-of-concept analysis was performed using McNemar's test to compare lead complications reported in the traditional PAS with lead complications identified in the RWD.
The age-friendly approach ensures older adults receive care that optimizes their well-being, particularly through episodes of illness and at end-of-life. Geriatric clinical quality organizations, including NICHE, establish age-friendly standards and provide education and implementation resources to healthcare organizations. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will require organizations participating in the inpatient prospective payment system and the long-term care hospital payment system to submit data about compliance with the Age-Friendly Measure starting in 2025.
Purpose: The association between statin use and cancer survival has been investigated in previous studies with conflicting findings. This study aimed to assess the association between statin use following cancer diagnosis and survival in six common cancers using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare database.
Methods: Individuals aged ≥ 66 years diagnosed with prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, bladder cancer, pancreatic cancer, or non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) from 2008 through 2017 were identified.
