Study Published on Medicare Utilization and Spending During COVID-19 Crisis

On October 8, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services published a study on Medicare utilization and spending in 2020 to analyze utilization and spending trends during the COVID-19 Emergency.

The study, which was conducted by the Assistant Secretary for Policy and Evaluation Office of Health Policy, reported several key findings, including:

• Medicare beneficiary utilization of services declined substantially beginning in mid-March 2020, bottomed out the week ending April 8, and increased through June.
• Payments for all fee-for-service claims declined by 39% in the week ending April 8—33% for inpatient services and 49% for physician services.
• By the week ending July 1, weekly payments had nearly returned to 2019 levels. They had risen to 96% of the comparable week in 2019 for all claims, 93% for inpatient services, and 95% for physician services.
• At the end of June, cumulative year-to-date payment deficits relative to 2019 ranged from 12% to 16% for these service categories.
• Utilization of individual preventive screening and surgical services declined substantially during March and April and have increased through June. Mammography preventive screening services have returned to pre-COVID levels and colonoscopies to 85% of pre-COVID levels.
• There is geographic variation in the magnitude of both the utilization declines and the rate of recovery.

To read the full report, click here: https://aspe.hhs.gov/system/files/pdf/264071/Medicare-FFS-Spending-Utilization.pdf