Long-term care residents may not be receiving all of the prescriptions they need after a study found that a significant number of Medicare enrollees had inadequate or no drug coverage.
Investigators used data from more than 330,000 Medicare enrollees who stayed at long-term care facilities for more than 100 days between 2011 and 2013. They found that Medicare Part D was the main drug coverage source for long-term care residents.
About 29,300 residents, or nearly 9%, had no drug coverage and either paid for all of their medications out-of-pocket or received only temporary drug payment assistance. Another 2,721 residents were identified as having inadequate drug coverage, according to the study.
“A substantial proportion of Medicare enrollees in long-term care have inadequate or no drug coverage and are receiving less medication than indicated by their health needs,” the authors wrote.
An expansion of the Medicare Part D program could be necessary in order to decrease insufficient coverage, the Northeastern University research team speculated. Findings appeared in January in the journal Medical Care.
