CMS Releases Updated Data on COVID-19's Impact on Medicare Population

On July 28, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its first monthly update of data that provides a snapshot of the impact of COVID-19 on the Medicare population. 

The updated data on COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations of Medicare beneficiaries covers the period from January 1 to June 20, 2020. It is based on Medicare claims and encounter data CMS received by July 17, 2020.

For the first time, the snapshot includes data for American Indian/Alaskan Native Medicare beneficiaries. The new data indicate that American Indian/Alaskan Native beneficiaries have the second highest rate of hospitalization for COVID-19 among racial/ethnic groups after Blacks.

The updated data confirm that the COVID-19 public health emergency is disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations, particularly racial and ethnic minorities. This is due, in part, to the higher rates of chronic health conditions in these populations and issues related to the social determinants of health.

Other key data points:

• Black beneficiaries continue to be hospitalized at higher rates than other racial and ethnic groups, with 670 hospitalizations per 100,000 beneficiaries.
• Beneficiaries eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid – who often suffer from multiple chronic conditions and have low incomes – were hospitalized at a rate more than 5 times higher than beneficiaries with Medicare only (719 versus 153 per 100,000).
• CMS paid $2.8 billion in Medicare fee-for-service claims for COVID-related hospitalizations, or an average of $25,255 per beneficiary.
  

Access CMS' Medicare COVID-19 Data Snapshot and additional information here. 

Posted 7/29/2020