In the white paper, Avalere compared outcomes for Medicare Advantage (MA) and fee-for-service (FFS) patients with type 2 diabetes at three distinct disease phases: prediabetes, incident diabetes (patients at first type 2 diabetes diagnosis), and chronic diabetes (patient has had type 2 diabetes for more than a year). We found that:

• MA patients with prediabetes who later developed type 2 diabetes received their type 2 diagnosis earlier (relative to the date of the prediabetes diagnosis) than FFS patients.
• MA patients with incident diabetes were more likely than FFS to fill prescriptions for medications to treat diabetes and related conditions within the first year of diagnosis.
• While similar rates of primary care provider visits occurred between MA and FFS patients with chronic diabetes, MA patients were more likely to receive diabetes-specific preventive care, including diabetes-related office visits and testing for kidney disease.

Funding for this research was provided by Better Medicare Alliance.

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