Relationship between quality of care and racial disparities in Medicare health plans.

CONTEXT -- Overall quality of care and racial disparities in quality are important and related problems in health care, but their relationship has not been well studied. In the Medicare managed care program, broad improvements in quality have been accompanied by reduced racial gaps in processes of care, but substantial disparities in outcomes have persisted. OBJECTIVES -- To assess variations among Medicare health plans in overall quality and racial disparity in 4 Health Plan Employer and Data Information Set (HEDIS) outcome measures, to determine whether high-performing plans exhibit smaller racial disparities, and to identify plans with high quality and low disparity. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS -- We assessed the relationship between quality and racial disparity using multilevel multivariable regression models. The study sample included 431,573 individual-level observations in 151 Medicare health plans from 2002 to 2004. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES -- Hemoglobin A(1c) of less than 9.5% or less than 9.0% for enrollees with diabetes; low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level of less than 130 mg/dL for enrollees with diabetes or after a coronary event; and blood pressure of less than 140/90 mm Hg for enrollees with hypertension. RESULTS -- Clinical performance on HEDIS outcome measures was 6.8% to 14.4% lower for black enrollees than for white enrollees (P