Beneficiary Survey-Based Feedback on New Medicare Informational Materials

Health Care Financing Review, Fall, 2001 by Lauren McCormack, A., Steven Garfinkel, A., Judith Hibbard, H., Kerry Kilpatrick, E., William D. Kalsbeek

Table 1
Sources of Medicare-Related Information Received

                                     Beneficiary

Source                           Experienced     New

                                       Percent

Any Medicare Information
  Received During Last 6 Months        71.0       87.6

Medicare-Related Information
  Received
AARP                                    7.1       14.2
Church, Synagogue, or Mosque            0.2        0.1
Counseling Agency                       0.7        0.7
Doctor or Other Health Care
  Professional                          1.9        2.0
Employer                                1.5        3.0
Insurance Company, Agent, or
  Health Plan                      (1) 32.6   (1) 50.5
Mail or Telephone                  (3) 14.2   (2) 23.2
Medicare Program                        4.2       13.2
Radio/Television                   (2) 25.8   (3) 19.8
Social Security Administration          1.4        7.9
State Department of Insurance
  or Health                             1.9        2.2
Other/Don't Know                        2.1        2.8

(1) Indicates the most informative source according
to beneficiaries.

(2) Indicates the second most informative source
according to beneficiaries.

(3) Indicates the third most informative source
according to beneficiaries.

NOTE: Includes experienced beneficiaries aged 65 or over and
new beneficiaries just aging into the Medicare program.

SOURCE: Survey of new and experienced Medicare beneficiaries in the
Kansas City metropolitan statistical area conducted by Research
Triangle Institute between September 1998 and January 1999.
Table 2
Time Spent Looking at the Materials

                                 Beneficiary

                                 Experienced

                                             Handbook
                                               and
Time Spent             Bulletin   Handbook   CAHPS[R]

Less than 15 Minutes     27.6       11.0       32.1
15-30 Minutes            50.7       29.8       38.9
15-60 Minutes            12.9       30.5       19.8
More than 60 Minutes      8.8       28.7        9.2

                                 Beneficiary

                                    New

                                             Handbook
                                               and
Time Spent             Bulletin   Handbook   CAHPS[R]

Less than 15 Minutes     34.5        9.8       32.7
15-30 Minutes            47.2       31.2       41.7
15-60 Minutes            14.8       31.5       14.3
More than 60 Minutes      3.5       27.4       11.3

NOTES: CAHPS[R] is Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Study.
Time spent is shown for those who received each intervention.
Includes experienced beneficiaries aged 65 or over and new
beneficiaries just aging into the Medicare program.

SOURCE: Survey of new and experienced Medicare beneficiaries in the
Kansas City metropolitan statistical area conducted by Research
Triangle Institute between September 1998 and January 1999.
Table 3
Helpfulness of the Materials in Understanding Advantages
and Disadvantages of Different Medicare
Health Insurance Options (1)

                                         Helpfulness

                                                   Very Good/
Education                       Poor/Fair   Good   Excellent

                                           Percent

Less than 12 Years                16.9      56.6      26.5

High School Graduate              19.0      44.2      36.8

Some College/Technical School     14.3      42.8      43.0

College Graduate                   7.5      46.9      45.7

(1) Includes only experienced beneficiaries 65 years of age or over.

NOTE: Differences between educational groups are
significant at the 0.05 level.

SOURCE: Survey of new and experienced Medicare beneficiaries in the
Kansas City metropolitan statistical area conducted by Research
Triangle Institute between September 1998 and January 1999.
Table 4
Logistic Regression Results Predicting the
Probability of Finding the Materials Useful

                                            Beneficiaries

                                Experienced (1)           New (2)
                                   beta(se)              beta(se)
Independent Variable               (n = 732)             (n = 779)

Intercept                        -1.8856(1.1580)        0.6047(1.4898)

Study Group
Bulletin                      *** 0.7485(0.2498)   *** 0.8689 (0.2825)
Handbook                      *** 0.5392(0.2517)   *** 0.7775 (0.2759)
Handbook and CAHPS[R]         *** 0.6765(0.2470)     * 0.5099 (0.2675)

Age
65-74 Years                       0.0524(0.0322)            NA
75 Years or Over              ** -0.0722(0.0332)

Sex
Male                                  NS             * 0.4009 (0.2138)

Income
More than $30,000 a Year     ** -0.7640 (0.3617)            NS

Supplemental Insurance
Individually-Purchased                NS           *** 0.6822 (0.2230)

Spouse's Choice
Affects Respondent's Choice    ** 0.3987(0.2011)     * 0.3955 (0.2270)

Physicians Visits
3 or More Physicians Visits
  in the Last 3 Months         * -0.4366(0.2606)            NS

Regular Source of Care
Have a Usual Source of Care           NS            * -0.7729 (0.4401)

Exposure to Other
  Information Sources
  (Range=0-11)                 ** 0.2223(0.1033)   *** 0.2800 (0.1142)
Exposure to Quality of
  Care Information              * 0.5206(0.3125)            NA
15-Item Knowledge Index       *** 1.9875(0.5785)   *** 3.4982 (0.5828)
Negative Attitude about
  HMOs                         ** -0.4475(0.1844   ** -0.5367 (0.2134)

*** p < 0.01.

** 0.01 p < 0.05.

* 0.05 p < 0.10.

(1) n = 732.

(2) n = 779.

NOTES: CAHPS [R] is Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Study.
NA is not applicable. NS is not significant. HMOs is health maintenance
organizations. The regression models also included variables reflecting
beneficiary race, ethnicity, education, whether the beneficiary lives
alone, was hospitalized in the last year, and health status as measured
by the Standard Form-12[R]. Includes experienced beneficiaries aged 65
and over and new beneficiaries just aging into the Medicare program.

SOURCE: Survey of new and experienced Medicare beneficiaries in the
Kansas City metropolitan statistical area conducted by Research
Triangle Institute between September 1998 and January 1999.
Table 5
Predicted Probability of Finding the Intervention
Materials Useful, by Study Group

Study Group                  Beneficiary

                        Experienced    New

Control                    0.605      0.716

Bulletin                   0.751      0.842

Handbook                   0.714      0.831

Handbook and CAHPS[R]      0.739      0.796

NOTES: CAHPS[R] is Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Study.
Includes experienced beneficiaries aged 65 or over and new
beneficiaries just aging into the Medicare program.

SOURCE: Survey of new and experienced Medicare beneficiaries in
the Kansas City metropolitan statistical area conducted by Research
Triangle Institute between September 1998 and January 1999.