The importance and challenge of comparing stroke care, utilization and outcomes in Medicare Advantage and Fee-for-Service Medicare: a narrative review and vision for the future

Stroke prevalence is highest in adults ≥65 years, the majority of whom are Medicare beneficiaries. Fee-for-Service Medicare (FFS) incentivizes utilization by paying for each service. Medicare Advantage (MA) uses capitated payments to reduce overutilization. It is not clear if stroke patients with FFS or MA receive different stroke preventive care and whether those differences are associated with differences in post-acute care utilization, cost and clinical outcomes. We performed an empirical narrative review of published peer-reviewed studies in the PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Science databases comparing stroke preventive care between FFS and MA using the American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8 and American Heart Association/American Stroke Association national guidelines. We added atrial fibrillation (AF), post-acute care utilization and outcomes, including mortality. 7/1356 studies met inclusion criteria. Studies were heterogenous in their design and settings. There was limited availability of clinical data. Within those limitations, published studies suggest that MA appears to allow for guideline-directed stroke preventive care for hyperlipidemia, smoking cessation and AF in specific study populations. Post-acute care utilization was generally lower in MA. Functional outcomes improvements were similar but occurred in fewer days in MA, though the absence of acute stroke treatment data is notable. Mortality data were mixed. Given the importance of stroke in Medicare and the growth in MA enrollment, comparing the effectiveness of MA and FFS warrants further study among appropriately matched MA and FFS beneficiaries with stroke.