Their analysis indicates that low-value care and associated spending remain prevalent among commercially insured and Medicare Advantage enrollees.
The authors also add that state-level variation in spending was greater than variation in utilization, and much of the variation in spending was driven by differences in average procedure prices
"On average, 2 in 100 enrollees eligible for at least one of the twenty-three low-value services received avoidable and possibly unnecessary services. This amounted to $3.7 billion in wasteful spending from 2009 to 2019," Do and coauthors report.
Their findings underscore the importance of routine measurement and reporting of the use of and spending associated with low-value services
at the state level.
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Elsewhere At Health Affairs
Elsewhere in Health Affairs Forefront, Jessica Green and Diane Gibson discuss how the personal experiences of people with Medicaid and those who directly work with them underscore the importance of state efforts, particularly as we face the difficulties of unwinding the
COVID-19 public health emergency.
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