September 9, 2010

Regional & Racial Variation in Primary Care & the Quality of Care Among Medicare Beneficiaries

On September 9, 2010, researchers of the Dartmouth Atlas Project released a report on primary care in fee-for-service Medicare. The services and care coordination offered by Medicare primary care provider organizations varied widely, such that among people enrolled in fee-for-service Medicare, primary care visits were not related to better health outcomes, fewer hospitalizations, or fewer emergency department visits. In general, for people with chronic health conditions, visiting a primary care provider was unrelated to the likelihood of hospitalization. The types of primary care services provided and the quality of services varied regionally, and had a greater relationship to the region and the primary care provider organization’s health system affiliation.