School of Pharmacy Study Finds Medicare Part D Healthy for Enrollees

Researchers found that Part D in 2006 made statistically significant improvements in the health, access to medications, and financial hardships of previously uninsured beneficiaries.

By Steve Berberich
June 30, 2009

Medicare beneficiaries’ activities of daily living (ADL) improved in their first year of the Medicare Part D senior prescription drug plan, according to a ground-breaking study presented at the Annual AcademyHealth meetings in Chicago on June 29.

In a study of Medicare records, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy researchers found that Part D in 2006 resulted in “small but statistically significant” improvements in the health status of previously uninsured beneficiaries and in their access to medications.

Nearly two-thirds of people with no drug coverage in 2005, before the plan, enrolled in Part D in 2006, the most recent year of available files from the Medicaid Current Beneficiary Survey. “It’s a rich source of information about beneficiary characteristics, health status, and activity limitations,” said study leader, Amy Davidoff, PhD, a research associate professor of pharmaceutical health services research at the School. “These individuals arguably had the most to gain from the new program, and thus represent an obvious population of policy interest.”

Previous studies of Part D focused mainly on enrollment patterns, ease of access and beneficiary options. “Much less is known about the impact of Part D on the health and well being of beneficiaries who enrolled. It will be years before definitive answers are available, but it is now possible to assess selected potential short-term health benefits associated with Part D,” said Bruce Stuart, PhD, a professor of pharmaceutical health services research and director of the School’s Peter Lamy Center on Drug Therapy and Aging.

The study also revealed that Part D enrollees experienced twice as much improvement, 8 percent, in their financial hardships than non-enrollees, 4 percent. And, non-enrollees were 3 percent less likely to report improved health in 2006 compared to 2005, relative to enrollees. Both groups reported similar counts of ADL limitations in 2005 but they declined for Part D enrollees, and increased for non-enrollees.

“Our findings suggest that in its inaugural year, the program was modestly successful in achieving its stated aims,” said Stuart. “The program, now in its fourth year, needs further study to determine whether the short-term gains we identified were maintained or improved further.”

Medicare Part D is a federal program that subsidizes the costs of prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries. It is part of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA). Part D went into effect on January 1, 2006.

The team presented two posters this morning at the AcademyHealth meetings. The study was funded by Novartis Parmaceuticals, Corp.