To provide comprehensive evidence on the extent to which postacute COVID-19 symptoms and overall health care utilization and spending among Medicare beneficiaries changed during the 10 months following COVID-19 infection.
Approach:
Study Design: Cohort study using Medicare claims data to analyze outcomes of traditional Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with COVID-19 compared to a matched cohort without COVID-19.
Data Collection: Utilized 100% sample of traditional Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with COVID-19 from February 2020 to November 2022, examining 40 weeks before and after diagnosis.
Matching Methodology: Matched COVID-19 beneficiaries to five non-COVID-19 beneficiaries based on pre-infection characteristics, accounting for hospitalization status and COVID-19 variant waves.
Key Findings:
Older adults reported lower prevalence of long COVID symptoms compared to younger adults.
Increased health care utilization and expenditures, including outpatient visits and hospital readmissions, were observed in the months following COVID-19 infection.
Existing studies on Medicare populations are limited to short-term outcomes and aggregate measures.
Interpretation:
The study provides insights into health care needs among Medicare beneficiaries during public health emergencies and implications for the Medicare program.
Limitations:
Exclusion of beneficiaries who died during the follow-up period may bias estimates of association and limit the generalizability of the findings.
Limited existing studies on long-term postacute health care utilization and costs.
Conclusion:
The findings provide insights into sustained associations of COVID-19 among older adults in traditional Medicare.
