How care quality differs between Medicare Advantage and Traditional Medicare
Ensuring High-Quality Care in Medicare Advantage and Traditional Medicare: Examining Heterogeneity of Program Effects
This project compares access, quality, and use of health services for people on Medicare Advantage versus Traditional Medicare, including differences across income and demographic groups.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Michigan at Ann Arbor NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Ann Arbor, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11370614 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
Researchers will use national Medicare data to compare access, quality, and use of care between Medicare Advantage (MA) plans and Traditional Medicare (TM). They will examine whether these differences vary for people with different incomes, races, and other demographic characteristics. The team will identify MA plans that consistently deliver better outcomes for different types of beneficiaries. They will also create and test patient-reported questionnaires to measure how consistent and reliable care feels to enrollees.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Medicare beneficiaries—especially older adults enrolled in Medicare Advantage or Traditional Medicare and those from diverse income and demographic groups—would be the focus for surveys or data analyses.
Not a fit: People who are not enrolled in Medicare (for example, younger adults with only private insurance) are unlikely to be affected directly by this project.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help people on Medicare choose plans that provide better access and quality and inform policy changes to improve care across Medicare.
How similar studies have performed: Prior research has compared MA and TM with mixed results, and developing validated patient-reported measures for plan performance is a more recent effort.
Where this research is happening
Ann Arbor, United States
- University of Michigan at Ann Arbor — Ann Arbor, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Tipirneni, Renuka — University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
- Study coordinator: Tipirneni, Renuka
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.