Health and Disability

In late March, the CMS Office of Minority Health released the Mapping Medicare Disparities (MMD) tool, an interactive map that displays differences in chronic disease prevalence and outcomes among Medicare beneficiaries. The tool uses Medicare claims data to present geographic differences down to the county level, searchable by parameters of sex, age, dual eligibility status, and race and ethnicity. This powerful resource can show measures of disease prevalence, Medicare spending, hospital and emergency department utilization, readmission rates, mortality rates and other health outcome measures for up to 18 chronic conditions. Users can compare outcomes between counties, racial and ethnic groups, and in comparison to national and state averages.

I decided to take the MMD Tool for a spin and checked out some of the data from the Boston area. I looked at how Black and White women in Suffolk County compared in terms of diabetes prevalence and emergency department visits. With a few clicks, I found the disturbing, but all too familiar, statistics: in 2014, 22 percent of White women enrolled in Medicare fee-for-service in the county had diabetes compared to 40 percent of Black women. And, the rates of emergency department visits among Black women were 22 percent higher than for White women.