Disparity Implications of Proposed 2015 Medicare Eligibility Criteria for Medication Therapy Management Services

Previous studies found that racial and ethnic minorities may be less likely than non-Hispanic Whites (Whites) to meet existing Medicare medication therapy management (MTM) eligibility criteria. To address these issues, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed alternative Medicare MTM eligibility criteria for 2015. Due to opposition to other Part D reforms proposed simultaneously by various stakeholders, CMS rescinded all proposed reforms. This study was conducted to determine whether non-Hispanic Blacks (Blacks) and Hispanics have lower likelihood of meeting the proposed 2015 Medicare MTM eligibility criteria.

This retrospective observational analysis used Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data (2010-2011). The final study sample was comprised of 2,721 Whites (weighted to 37,185,896), 917 Blacks (weighted to 4,665,644), and 538 Hispanics (weighted to 3,532,882). Chi-square tests were used to examine racial and ethnic disparities in meeting proposed 2015 MTM eligibility criteria and each component of proposed 2015 MTM eligibility criteria. In multivariate analysis, a logistic regression model was used to control for population socio-demographic and health-related characteristics.

Compared to Whites with a proportion of MTM eligibility of 58.82%, the eligible proportion was 57.09% (P=0.20) for Blacks, and 48.97% (P<0.0001) for Hispanics, respectively. According to multivariate logistic regression, odds ratios of meeting MTM eligibility for Blacks and Hispanics compared to Whites were 0.74 (95% Confidence Internal [CI] = 0.62-0.88) and 0.53 (95% CI=0.43-0.67), respectively.

The proposed 2015 MTM eligibility criteria would not eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in MTM eligibility. Alternative MTM eligibility criteria should be devised.