More on Medicaid Satisfaction: J.D. Power finds Medicaid Members More Satisfied Than Commercial Plan Members

by Clive Riddle, August 4, 2017 Recently, we  posted about The July 10 , 2017 Research Letter published in JAMA, A National Survey of Medicaid Beneficiaries’ Expenses and Satisfaction With Health Care, which found that “Medicaid enrollees gave their overall health care an average rating of 7.9 on a 0 to 10 scale. Forty-six percent gave their Medicaid coverage a score of 9 or 10, while only 7.6% gave scores under 5.” We noted these relatively high satisfaction levels occur despite a study published in the May 2017 Health Affairs: Outpatient Office Wait Times And Quality Of Care For Medicaid Patients which found Medicaid patients were 20 percent more likely than others to wait 20 minutes or longer. We also noted Medicaid managed care satisfaction rates were also measured last summer, under a survey commissioned by AHIP, which found 87 percent were satisfied with their Medicaid coverage and benefits. This week J.D. Power published a 2017 Managed Medicaid Special Report, which concludes that “Medicaid recipients are more satisfied with their coverage than traditional, commercial health plan members.” Their study measured “overall satisfaction with managed Medicaid organizations based on six factors (in order of importance): provider choice; coverage and benefits; customer service; cost; information and communication; and claims processing. Satisfaction is calculated on a 1,000-point scale.” The study found that: ·           Overall managed Medicaid satisfaction averaged a 784 score ·           The Medicaid average score was 78 points higher than the commercial health plan score for 2017 ·           Medicaid enrollees indicate provider choice as the most important factor of overall member experience ·           In contrast, commercial members list coverage and benefits as the key driver of satisfaction ·           42% of Medicaid managed care members deferred medical treatments due to cost ·           40% of Medicaid managed care members avoided buying prescription medications due to cost Given that Medicaid is administered and differs at the state level, the study addressed state differences, and reports that “Medicaid recipients in states where a dominant regional plan or a plan that owns a health system have the easiest access to doctors and hospitals, underscoring the importance of building robust networks and focusing on coordination of care between providers. Iowa, Tennessee, Arizona and Indiana have the easiest access to doctors and hospitals, compared with the other states included in the study.” The report also share that “the states with the highest levels of satisfaction among Medicaid recipients are Utah (885), Iowa (859), Colorado (854), Arizona (840) and Virginia (840). The lowest-performing states in terms of overall recipient satisfaction are Kansas (683), Mississippi (686), Delaware (716), New Jersey (728) and California (731).”