Medicare Advantage Customer Service Is Used Most by Higher-Need Patients

AJMC August 9, 2024
Denise D. Quigley, PhD, Ann Haas, MS, MPH, Denise D. Quigley, PhD, Ann Haas, MS, MPH, Marc N. Elliott, PhD, Amelia M. Haviland, PhD, Nate Orr, MA, Sarah Gaillot, PhD, Robert Weech-Maldonado, PhD

Medicare Advantage customer service supports a less healthy, higher-need population, indicating that it should be designed and staffed to effectively serve complex, high-need patients.

ABSTRACT

Objectives: To examine characteristics of Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollees who use their plan’s customer service to help plans understand how to better meet members’ needs.

Study Design: National sample of 259,533 respondents to MA Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey enrolled in any of the 559 MA contracts in 2022.

Methods: We assessed the association between self-reported customer service use in the prior 6 months and enrollee demographic, coverage, health, and health care utilization characteristics. We used weighted linear regression models to test for bivariate and multivariate associations between customer service use and...

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