Medicare Payment Advisory Commission Focus Groups & Site Visits

Health care provider talking on a cell phone

Conducting annual focus groups with Medicare and Medicaid-Medicare beneficiaries and providers to inform Medicare policy for 20 years

Client

Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC)
Dates

2006 – Present

Problem

MedPAC seeks to include the voice of beneficiaries and providers in their work and recommendations.

MedPAC wants to ensure that the experiences of Americans enrolled in Medicare and providers who participate in the program are factored into the recommendations they make. To capture these experiences, NORC has conducted a series of focus groups annually since 2006 with Medicare beneficiaries, including those dually enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid and near-beneficiaries (adults ages 55-64) as well as providers (primary and specialist physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants). Focus groups are conducted in person and virtually.

Solution

NORC conducts focus groups and interviews with beneficiaries and providers.

Focus groups cover topics including:

Access to medical care and prescription drugs
Coverage choices
Coordination of care
Signing up for Medicare
Certain aspects of Part D
Benefit design
Recent changes to the structure and delivery of health care, such as bundled payments, quality incentives, and accountable care organizations (ACOs)

Under these contracts, NORC has also conducted site visits and semi-structured interviews with health plans, health care systems, independent physicians, and providers participating in Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation models.

Each year, NORC strives to capture the perspectives from a diverse set of cities across the country. Below we list the markets that we visited by year starting in 2015:

2024: Dallas, Philadelphia, Phoenix
2023: Baltimore, Chicago, Denver
2022: Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas
2021*: San Franscisco, New York City, Houston
2020*: Los Angeles, Miami, Detroit
2019: Kansas City, Portland, Raleigh
2018: Milwaukee, Phoenix, Tampa
2017: Richmond, Seattle, Indianapolis
2016: Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia
2015: Atlanta, St. Louis, New York City

*Research was conducted virtually.

Result

Our findings inform Congress about beneficiary and provider experience in the Medicare program.

NORC’s analysis, based on data collected through site visits, literature reviews, key informant interviews, and beneficiary focus groups described above, supports MedPAC’s mission to advise the U.S. Congress on policy issues affecting payments under Medicare fee-for-service and Medicare Advantage, including access to care, quality of care, and other issues affecting Medicare. Each project culminates in a final report that informs MedPAC’s annual reports to Congress.

MedPAC began publishing these final reports in 2023. They can be found under the Final Reports section below.