Medicare’s Role in Fighting Chronic Disease

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Source: NEJM

Original: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2514040?af=R&rss=currentIssue...

Published: 2026-01-24T12:30:00Z

About 80 percent of Medicare beneficiaries have at least one chronic disease, such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, or COPD.[1] The most expensive five percent of Medicare beneficiaries account for about half of all program spending, with 47 percent having congestive heart failure and 35 percent diabetes among them.[1] Medicare introduced a program to improve the care of patients with chronic diseases through the so-called medication therapy management and performance-based programs that reward physicians for adherence to clinical guidelines.[1] According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, approximately 800,000 hospitalizations for patients with congestive heart failure could be avoided with better outpatient care.[1] The CHRONIC Care Act of 2018 allowed Medicare Advantage plans to cover services such as transportation to the pharmacy, home maintenance, or delivery of healthy meals that are not strictly medical but help maintain health.[3] The proportion of beneficiaries with two or more chronic conditions receiving chronic care management services increased from 1.1 percent in 2015 to 3.4 percent in 2019.[4]