Medicare Beneficiaries

The purpose of this research was to understand the relationship between state Medicaid payment rates to nursing homes and those facilities’ costs of providing care to Medicaid residents.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a broad category of diseases affecting approximately half of American adults. Despite progress in treatment and management, CVD still has a large health, mortality, and economic burden. This report to Congress describes CVD and its adverse health outcomes, as well as certain risk factors and prevention and treatment options.

Nursing homes have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. The purpose of this study was to examine whether there were racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic differences in COVID-19 infection and mortality rates at both the nursing home resident and nursing home facility levels. The study includes national data on COVID-19 outcomes for nursing home residents through the end of June 2021.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) makes improvements to Medicare to increase accessibility and affordability of prescription drugs for Medicare enrollees, reduce the rate of growth in Medicare drug spending, and improve the financial sustainability of the Medicare program.

A 2020 study examined the feasibility of using substance use disorder (SUD) patient intake assessment data as source of information for treatment planning.

These Fact Sheets highlight health care cost savings achieved under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for each of the fifty states and the District of Columbia. Enrollee savings on Medicare Part D out-of-pocket costs, insulin, vaccines, and Marketplace premiums are presented.

Stakeholders, researchers, and policymakers have identified varying nursing home ownership structures and ownership transactions as potentially influencing the quality of care delivered to vulnerable residents.

Prior research from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) show older adults receiving federal housing assistance face disproportionately high rates of chronic conditions and health care utilization.

This issue brief summarizes analyses of Medicare fee-for-service data examining beneficiary use of tele-behavioral health services during 2019 and 2020. Results demonstrate that the number of Medicare beneficiaries receiving behavioral health care via telehealth increased dramatically during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

This Issue Brief explores telehealth use for people and Medicare beneficiaries with disabilities and examines questions on the use of audio-only telehealth during the second and third years of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.