Health

 Axios - More than 60% of Medicare enrollees with opioid use disorder are getting substandard care, according to a new study in Health Affairs.

Opioid use is a growing health problem for older adults in the U.S.

• Drug overdose deaths for people age 65 and older increased 11.4% between 2022 and 2023, per CDC data — the largest increase of any age group that year.

Fewer than 40% of Medicare beneficiaries with diagnosed opioid use disorder in 2020 received treatment that met the eight nationally recognized quality standards for the care, the study found.

• The findings show that Medicare needs to routinely monitor the quality of opioid use treatment it covers for seniors, researchers said.
• The study echoes federal findings from last year that found just 4% of traditional Medicare enrollees who survived drug overdoses got medication-assisted treatment for opioids like methadone or buprenorphine.
• Medicare Advantage plans were significantly worse at meeting six out of the eight quality measures compared with traditional Medicare.  Read more