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Rapid and Flexible Analysis of Data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
This project provides rapid and flexible analysis of CMS data in response to requests from the federal Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP) staff, which often requires information that is only available through analysis of databases maintained by CMS. To fully supply information needed to support rural health policy development and evaluation, these databases need to be transformed into analysis files and linked to geographic identifiers and demographic characteristics, requiring data storage capacity, statistical and GIS software, demographic data files and computer programming expertise. This project will make use of secondary data files archived at the University of North Carolina Rural Health Research & Policy Analysis Center, including datasets on Medicare provider costs and revenues, health professional supply, healthcare organizations and population characteristics. Work will be ongoing.
Publications
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Experience of Rural Independent Pharmacies With Medicare Part D: Reports From the Field
Author(s): Andrea Radford, Rebecca Slifkin, Roslyn Fraser, Michelle Mason, Keith Mueller
Citation: Journal of Rural Health, 23(4), 286–293
Date: 2007
Describes first-hand reports from rural pharmacist-owners about their experiences with Medicare Part D plans in the first 7 months of 2006 in order to gain a more thorough understanding of the challenges faced by rural independent pharmacies as a result of program implementation.
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Experience of Sole Community Rural Independent Pharmacies with Medicare Part D: Reports from the Field
Author(s): Andrea Radford, Rebecca Slifkin, Roslyn Fraser, Michelle Mason, Keith Mueller
Report Number: Working Paper No. 87 (NC), Policy Paper P2006-3 (RUPRI)
Date: 11 / 2006
Case study describing first-hand reports from 12 rural independent pharmacists in seven states about their experiences with Medicare Part D plans (PDPs) in the first seven months of 2006. The rural independent pharmacists interviewed are experiencing major changes in payment, administrative burden, and interaction with patients as a result of the shift of patients into Medicare Part D plans. Previously, these patients were mostly non-covered cash or Medicaid-covered clients. Two consequences are apparent in the data collected: 1) Payment per prescription is lower from Medicare PDPs than from either non-covered cash or Medicaid, and in some instances payment from PDPs is less than the combined cost of stocking the medications and dispensing them, representing a reduction in revenue; and
2)The number of plans that provide Part D benefits greatly exceeds the two payment sources pharmacists previously dealt with, representing an increase in administrative burden for independent pharmacies.
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