Quality, Cost, and Timeliness of Cancer Treatment in Medicare Advantage and Traditional Medicare

Are Medicare Advantage (MA) insurance plans associated with use of lower-cost or lower-quality cancer treatments?In this cohort study including 35 245 patients with a new cancer diagnosis from 2016 through 2019 with either MA or traditional Medicare (TM), MA patients were similarly likely to receive the optimal treatment for their cancer, had similar time to treatment, and received less-costly treatments.These findings suggest MA beneficiaries with cancer received lower-cost but not lower-quality or less timely cancer treatment.

Corresponding Author: Aaron P. Mitchell, MD, MPH, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 633 3rd Ave, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10017 (mitchea2@mskcc.org).

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