Primary Care Utilization and Expenditures in Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage, 2007-2016

Achieving effective, high-quality primary care for Medicare beneficiaries is a national priority as it encourages health promotion and maintenance, potentially reducing intensity of acute care services. Currently, there is ample data documenting intensity of primary care services, including rates of utilization and expenditures, for beneficiaries in fee-for-service Traditional Medicare (TM). However, less is known about the beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, which now include 33% of the Medicare population. As managed care’s goal is to control costs while maintaining a high quality, MA plans may encourage greater primary care than is the case in TM. We examined whether this is the case by assessing primary care utilization and expenditures among beneficiaries in MA and TM.