Assessing Medicare health care performance in serving beneficiary subpopulations.

In this analysis, the authors examined differences in managed health plan performance ratings between selected subgroups of the Medicare population who may have exceptional health care needs (EHCNs) or may require special plan efforts to facilitate effective service use compared with the residual enrolled population. Findings indicated that disabled enrollees have lower plan ratings across all dimensions of performance than do other enrollees. Aged enrollees in self-reported fair/poor health and those with limited independence have lower ratings for most dimensions of performance. Finally, although Hispanic persons and persons other than white were more satisfied with their health plans, overall, they had lower ratings for dimensions of the process of care and access to services.