Health care quality metrics higher in Medicare Advantage plans: Study

Health care utilization is lower in Medicare Advantage compared to traditional Medicare, but clinical quality performance was higher in the private program, a study published in Health Affairs found, reports Healthpayer Intelligence. Researchers used data from 2010 to 2017 to compare quality and utilization measures in Medicare Advantage and traditional Medicare. Performance on clinical quality metrics was better in Medicare Advantage HMOs compared to traditional Medicare for all nine measures in both years, except for osteoporosis management in 2010. Medicare Advantage PPO clinical quality performance was also better than traditional Medicare, but the differences were narrower.