A Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey-Based Investigation of Alternative Primary Care Models in Nursing Homes: Cost and Utilization Differences.

The current study used the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey-Based (MCBS) Cost and Use files for 2006-2008 to investigate whether health care costs and service utilization of nursing home residents varied with nurse practitioner (NP) and physician assistant (PA) involvement, compared to the use of medical doctors (MDs) only. The sample included Medicare beneficiaries 65 and older residing in a nursing home for the entire study year (433 annual observations). A generalized estimating equations procedure was used to assess whether health care cost and utilization measures varied by cohort. Point estimates indicated that the annual per-person cost of non-institutional services (total medical cost less the cost of the nursing home itself) was $3,847 and $3,170 more for individuals in the MD-only and MD-dominant cohorts, respectively, compared to those in the NP/PA-dominant cohort. [Res Gerontol Nurs. 2016; 9(3):115-122.].