5 things to know about Medicare Advantage plans lacking in-network access to academic medical centers

1. Medicare Advantage plans include about half (51 percent) of area hospitals in their network, on average, while one in five plans lack in-network access to academic medical centers.

2. Two in five plans in areas with a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center did not include the center in their networks.

3. Twenty-three percent of Medicare Advantage plans in Kaiser's study had broad hospital networks in 2015, while about 16 percent had narrow or ultra-narrow networks.

4. In 9 of the 20 counties studied, none of the plans offered in 2015 had a broad network of hospitals within that county, the study found.

5. Among HMOs, broad and narrow network plans had similar average premiums ($37 vs. $36 per month) and similar quality ratings (3.8 vs. 4.1 stars).

 

 

 

Source: Becker's Hospital Review