Health Care Service Use among Elderly Seasonal Migrators

Molly Moore Jeffery, Julian Wolfson, Sarah K. Meier, Bryan E Dowd, Jean M Abraham, Robert L. Kane

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Elderly seasonal migrators share time between homes in different states, presenting challenges for care coordination and patient attribution methods. Medicare has prioritized alternative payment models, putting health care providers at risk for quality and value of services delivered to their attributed patients, regardless of the location of care. Little research is available to guide providers and payers on the service use of seasonal migrators. The authors use claims data on fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare beneficiaries' locations throughout the year to (1) identify seasonal migrators and (2) describe the care they receive in each seasonal home, focusing on primary care and emergency department (ED) visits and the relationships between the two. In all, 5.5% of the Medicare aged FFS population were identified as seasonal migrators, with 4.1% following the traditional snowbird pattern of migration, spending warm months in the north and cold months in the south. Migrators had higher rates of ED visits and primary care treatable (PCT) ED visits than the nonmigratory groups, controlling for location, age, race, sex, Medicaid status, season, and comorbidities. They also had more visits with specialist physicians, more days with outpatient services, and more days seeing a physician in any setting. Having local primary care strongly reduced rates of both PCT ED visits and total ED visits for all migration categories, with the greatest reduction seen in PCT ED visits by migrators (local primary care was associated with a 58% reduction in PCT ED visits by snowbirds and a 65% reduction in PCT ED visits by other migrators).

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)415-421
Number of pages7
JournalPopulation Health Management
Volume21
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2018

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest. The authors received the following financial support: This study was made possible by the Mayo Clinic Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery and financial support from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in the form of a National Research Service Award predoctoral training grant.

Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright 2018, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers 2018.

Keywords

  • Medicare
  • health care service use
  • seasonal migration

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