No abstract

Medicare began reimbursing for outpatient diabetes self-management training (DSMT) in 2000; however, little is known about program utilization. Individuals diagnosed with diabetes in 2010 were identified from a 20% random selection of the Medicare fee-for-service population (N = 110,064). Medicare administrative and claims files were used to determine DSMT utilization. Multivariate logistic regression analyses evaluated the association of demographic, health status, and provider availability factors with DSMT utilization. Approximately 5% of Medicare beneficiaries with newly diagnosed diabetes used DSMT services. The adjusted odds of any utilization were lower among men compared with women, older individuals compared with younger, non-Whites compared with Whites, people dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid compared with nondual eligibles, and patients with comorbidities compared with individuals without those conditions. Additionally, the adjusted odds of utilizing DSMT increased as the availability of providers who offered DSMT services increased and varied by Census region. Utilization of DSMT among Medicare beneficiaries with newly diagnosed diabetes is low. There appear to be marked disparities in access to DSMT by demographic and health status factors and availability of DSMT providers. In light of the increasing prevalence of diabetes, future research should identify barriers to DSMT access, describe DSMT providers, and explore the impact of DSMT services. With preventive services being increasingly covered by insurers, the low utilization of DSMT, a preventive service benefit that has existed for almost 15 years, highlights the challenges that may be encountered to achieve widespread dissemination and uptake of the new services.

Findings demonstrate benefits from DSMT use, including lower health service utilization and costs. The low cost of DSMT relative to the reduction in Medicare expenditures highlights an opportunity to reduce the burden of diabetes on both individuals and the health care system.

The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 mandated a major overhaul in Medicare payment for home health care with an interim payment system (IPS) preceding a prospective payment system (PPS). This study extends an earlier analysis of the impact of the IPS to determine whether home health use and spendingtrends changed after the introduction of the PPS. The rapid decline in the incidence of use and visits per user under the IPS slowed in its final year and then picked up again in the first year of the PPS. In addition, average payment per visit increased sharply under the PPS. Little is known about the impact of continued large reductions in home health services since 1999.

Findings reinforce the potential merit of patient-specific rather than setting-specific measures of quality, but underscore practical challenges to constructing measures that span data sources and episodes of care.