Solving racial/ethnic disparities associated with Medicare Part D Star Ratings

Medicare Part D Star Ratings are instrumental in shaping healthcare quality improvement efforts. However, the calculation metrics for medication performance measures for this program have been associated with racial/ethnic disparities. In this study, we aimed to explore whether an alternative program, named Star Plus by us that included all medication performance measures developed by Pharmacy Quality Alliance and applicable to our study population, would reduce such disparities among Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes, hypertension, and/or hyperlipidemia.

We conducted an analysis of a 10% random sample of Medicare A/B/D claims linked to the Area Health Resources File. Multivariate logistic regressions with minority dummy variables were used to examine racial/ethnic disparities in measure calculations of Star Ratings and Star Plus, respectively.

Adjusted results indicated that relative to non-Hispanic Whites (Whites), racial/ethnic minorities had significantly lower odds of being included in the Star Ratings measure calculations: the odds ratios (ORs) for Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and Others were 0.68 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.66-0.71), 0.73 (CI = 0.69-0.78), 0.88 (CI = 0.82-0.93), and 0.92 (CI = 0.88-0.97), respectively. In contrast, every beneficiary in the sample was included in Star Plus. Further, racial/ethnic minorities had significantly higher increase in the odds of being included in measure calculation in Star Plus than Star Ratings. The ORs for Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and Others were 1.47 (CI = 1.41-1.52), 1.37 (CI = 1.29-1.45), 1.14 (CI = 1.07-1.22), and 1.09 (CI = 1.03-1.14), respectively.

Our study demonstrated that racial/ethnic disparities may be eliminated by including additional medication performance measures to Star Ratings.