Role of PCPs in diagnosing dementia in traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage

In this study, we quantify how incident dementia diagnosis rates vary for similar beneficiaries in TM and MA seen by the same PCP. To investigate the role of insurance design on dementia diagnosis, we examined differences in diagnosis rates for TM and MA beneficiaries seen by the same PCP. Among a matched sample of TM and MA beneficiaries with assigned PCPs in 2017, incident dementia diagnosis rates were 0.11 percentage points lower for MA beneficiaries compared to TM beneficiaries seen by the same PCP. MA patients were less likely to be seen by dementia specialists compared to TM beneficiaries seen by the same PCP.