Home Health Aide and Social Work Visits in Medicare Advantage and Traditional Medicare by Rurality
Author Information
Author(s): Mroz Tracy, Garberson Lisa, Andrilla C Holly, Patterson Davis
Primary Institution: University of Washington
Hypothesis
Do Medicare Advantage beneficiaries receive different levels of home health aide and social work services compared to Traditional Medicare beneficiaries, particularly in rural versus urban areas?
Conclusion
Medicare Advantage beneficiaries have lower odds of receiving home health aide and social work visits compared to Traditional Medicare beneficiaries, especially in rural areas.
Supporting Evidence
- 23% of beneficiaries were enrolled in Medicare Advantage, while 77% were in Traditional Medicare.
- 83% of beneficiaries lived in urban communities, and 17% in rural communities.
- MA beneficiaries had significantly lower odds of receiving aide and social work visits compared to TM beneficiaries.
- Beneficiaries in rural communities had lower odds of receiving social work visits, especially in small rural and isolated small rural areas.
- Odds of receiving aide visits were higher in rural communities compared to urban ones.
Takeaway
This study found that people in Medicare Advantage plans get less help from home health aides and social workers than those in Traditional Medicare, especially if they live in rural areas.
Methodology
Hierarchical logistic regression analyses using 2018 Medicare files to examine service receipt by enrollment type and rural-urban status.
Limitations
The study may not account for all factors influencing service receipt and is limited to 2018 data.
Participant Demographics
23% of participants were enrolled in Medicare Advantage and 83% lived in urban communities.
Statistical Information
Confidence Interval
(0.82, 0.92) for aide visits; (0.85, 0.98) for social work visits
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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