Browsing by Author "Schneider, Eric C."
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Item Racial Disparities in the Quality of Care for Enrollees in Medicare Managed Care(2002) Schneider, Eric C.; Zaslavsky, Alan M.; Epstein, Arnold M.Context Substantial racial disparities in the use of some health services exist; however, much less is known about racial disparities in the quality of care. Objective To assess racial disparities in the quality of care for enrollees in Medicare managed care health plans. Design and Setting Observational study, using the 1998 Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS), which summarized performance in calendar year 1997 for 4 measures of quality of care (breast cancer screening, eye examinations for patients with diabetes, -blocker use after myocardial infarction, and follow-up after hospitalization for mental illness). Participants A total of 305 574 (7.7%) beneficiaries who were enrolled in Medicare managed care health plans had data for at least 1 of the 4 HEDIS measures and were aged 65 years or older. Main Outcome Measures Rates of breast cancer screening, eye examinations for patients with diabetes, -blocker use after myocardial infarction, and follow-up after hospitalization for mental illness. Results Blacks were less likely than whites to receive breast cancer screening (62.9% vs 70.9%; P<.001), eye examinations for patients with diabetes (43.6% vs 50.4%; P = .02), -blocker medication after myocardial infarction (64.1% vs 73.8%; P<.005), and follow-up after hospitalization for mental illness (33.2 vs 54.0%; P<.001). After adjustment for potential confounding factors, racial disparities were still statistically significant for eye examinations for patients with diabetes, -blocker use after myocardial infarction, and follow-up after hospitalization for mental illness. Conclusion Among Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in managed care health plans, blacks received poorer quality of care than whites.Item Relationship Between Quality of Care and Racial Disparities in Medicare Health Plans(2006) Trivedi, Amal N.; Zaslavsky, Alan M.; Schneider, Eric C.; Ayanian, John Z.Context Overall quality of care and racial disparities in quality are important and related problems in health care, but their relationship has not been well studied. In the Medicaremanagedcare program, broad improvements in quality have been accompanied by reduced racial gaps in processes of care, but substantial disparities in outcomes have persisted. Objectives To assess variations among Medicare health plans in overall quality and racial disparity in 4 Health Plan Employer and Data Information Set (HEDIS) outcome measures, to determine whether high-performing plans exhibit smaller racial disparities, and to identify plans with high quality and low disparity. Design, Setting, and Patients Weassessed the relationship between quality and racial disparity using multilevel multivariable regression models. The study sample included 431 573 individual-level observations in 151 Medicare health plans from 2002 to 2004. Main Outcome Measures Hemoglobin A1c of less than 9.5% or less than 9.0% for enrollees with diabetes; low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level of less than 130 mg/dL for enrollees with diabetes or after a coronary event; and blood pressure of less than 140/90 mm Hg for enrollees with hypertension. Results Clinical performance on HEDIS outcome measures was 6.8% to 14.4% lower for black enrollees than for white enrollees (P.001 for all). For each measure, more than 70% of this disparity was due to different outcomes for black and white individuals enrolled in the same health plan rather than selection of black enrollees into lower-performing plans. Health plans varied substantially in both overall quality and racial disparity on each of the 4 outcome measures. Adjusted correlations between overall quality and racial disparity were small and not statistically significant, ranging from 0.01 (blood pressure control) to −0.21 (cholesterol control in diabetes). Only 1 health plan achieved both high quality and low disparity on more than 1 measure. Conclusions In Medicare health plans, disparities vary widely and are only weakly correlated with the overall quality of care. Therefore, plan-specific performance reports of racial disparities on outcome measures would provide useful information not currently conveyed by standard HEDIS reports.