Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) sent this bulletin at 09/03/2020 11:15 AM EDT
Connecting People With Data
CMS Updates Medicare COVID-19 Snapshot
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released our monthly update of data that provides a snapshot of the impact of COVID-19 on the Medicare population. The updated data show over 773,000 COVID-19 cases among the Medicare population and nearly 215,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations.
Other key findings:
The rate of COVID-19 cases among Medicare beneficiaries grew 40% since the July release to 1,208 cases per 100,000 beneficiaries.
Similarly, the rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations among Medicare beneficiaries grew 33% since the July release to 338 hospitalizations per 100,000 beneficiaries.
Weekly counts of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations reached the lowest point to date in late June and began to increase in July.
The rate of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations grew the most among disabled beneficiaries, Hispanic beneficiaries, and Medicare-only beneficiaries (those who are not dually eligible for Medicaid).
Medicare Fee-for-Service (Original Medicare) spending associated with COVID-19 hospitalizations grew to $3.5 billion or just over $25,000 per hospitalization.
Data on discharge status and length of stay for COVID-19 hospitalizations remained similar to previously reported figures in the July release. 29% of beneficiaries went home at the end of their hospital stay and 24% died. Nearly half of the hospitalizations lasted 7 days or less while 5% lasted more than 31 days.
The updated data on COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations among Medicare beneficiaries covers the period from January 1 to July 18, 2020. It is based on Medicare Fee-for-Service claims and Medicare Advantage encounter data CMS received by August 14, 2020.
