A study published Tuesday in Health Affairs finds that older adults have better access to care and experience fewer racial or social disparities when they use “senior-focused” primary care practices.
Traditional primary care organizations may not always address the chronic conditions and complex care needs of many older adults. Practices that are centered on older adults use a value-based care model instead of a fee-for-service one, and often have access to multiple specialists.
Investigators evaluated data from more than 462,000 patients at six senior-centered primary care organizations. The patients all were enrolled in Medicare Advantage in 2021.
Compared with care received in traditional primary care settings, patients at value-based, senior-focused primary care practices received 17% more primary care visits. The practices tailored to older adults saw more Black and low-income patients than other primary care settings did. In addition, Black and low-income patients had 39% and 21% more primary care visits, respectively, than those in the same groups who used other primary care practices.
Older adults who visit senior-focused primary care practices over traditional ones may also have better performance in medication adherence, better controlled blood pressure and diabetes,and less hospital use, among other performance measures. The authors caution that more data is needed to know for sure.
The study was conducted by Humana with a researcher and professor at Harvard University.
“This study bears out what we see day-to-day in our approximately 300 centers, many of them located in underserved areas,” Reneé Buckingham, president of Humana’s senior-focused primary care organization, said in a statement.
“Focusing on seniors in a value-based, team-oriented care model means that we can spend more time with patients, understanding the many social and other factors that play a role in overall health. It’s that deep knowledge of our patients that drives these better outcomes. In fact, this data proves what we’ve known for some time — senior-focused primary care improves well-being so those under our care can attain their best health and live their lives to the fullest. Increasing access to senior-focused primary care is an important lever in delivering better health outcomes for our members and patients.”
