Improved outcomes seen with no significant changes in Medicare spending<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter<\/b><\/p>\n
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WEDNESDAY, Oct. 18, 2023 (HealthDay News) — The Million Hearts Model, which encouraged and paid for cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment and reduction, cut first-time heart attacks and strokes over five years, according to a study published in the Oct. 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association<\/em>.<\/p>\n Laura Blue, Ph.D., from Mathematica in Washington, D.C., and colleagues estimated the effects of the Million Hearts Model on first-time myocardial infarctions and strokes and Medicare spending over a period up to five years (2017 to 2021). Analysis included data from 342 U.S.-based primary care and specialty practices, health centers, and hospital-based outpatient clinics with participating patients: 130,578 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries (aged 40 to 79 years) with medium or high CVD risk and 88,286 control beneficiaries.<\/p>\n The researchers found that the probability of a first-time CVD event within five years was lower for intervention beneficiaries than control beneficiaries (3.3 percent relative effect; adjusted hazard ratio, 0.97; 90 percent confidence interval, 0.93 to 1.00). For combined first-time CVD events and CVD deaths, the five-year probability was lower in the intervention group (4.2 percent relative effect; adjusted hazard ratio, 0.96; 90 percent confidence interval, 0.93 to 0.99). For CVD events, Medicare spending was similar between the groups (effect estimate, \u00e2\u0088\u0092$1.83 per beneficiary per month), as was overall Medicare spending when including model payments (effect estimate, $2.11 per beneficiary per month).<\/p>\n “Results support guidelines to use risk scores for CVD primary prevention,” the authors write.<\/p>\n Several authors reported ties to industry.<\/p>\n <\/span>Abstract\/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)<\/a><\/p>\n Editorial (subscription or payment may be required)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/i><\/p>\n