Survey Shows Higher Funding Does Not Increase Perceived Quality of Care

According to a recently published study, higher levels of regional spending on medical care don’t actually impact Medicare beneficiaries’ perception of quality of care.  The survey, administered by researches from the University of Massachusetts, showed that although spending per capita varies depending on region, this difference in spending doesn’t seem to be reflected in care quality responses. 

The study, acknowledging that there is a disparity between region spending, was designed to see whether or not regions with low expenditures see themselves as receiving lower quality of care than those in high-expenditure regions.  Surveys were conducted by both mail and telephone in 2005.  The survey asked three questions about perceived unmet need for care, four about the perceived quality of ambulatory care, and three about ratings of overall quality of care.  2515 people responded to the survey.

The survey showed that higher per capital spending was related to receiving more medical care, such as more ambulatory visits to physicians and more cardiac tests.  But the questions that measured perceived quality of care – 7 of the ten measures -  showed that there really was no strong correlation between greater spending and increased perceived quality.  In fact, at times, perceived quality of care was actually higher in areas with lower-expenditures. 

For some, the study asks the question as to whether or not more spending actually improves the Medicare experience of beneficiaries.  For others, it also raises the question – if increased spending doesn’t work to increase the perception of care quality, what are some other solutions? 

 The study can be found published in the May 28 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.