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The quality of care for elderly white and AfricanAmerican beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare managed-care plans that were eligible for at least one of nine Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measures is compared. The measured quality of care of elderly Medicare beneficiaries in managed-care plans improved substantially from 1997 to 2003 and the racial disparities seemed to decline.

For-profit health plans are just as likely to pay for expensive medical procedures as not-for-profit health plans, according to researchers who analyzed the use of 12 high-cost procedures on 3,726,065 Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in 254 health plans in 1997. In no case were the for-profit health plans less likely to pay for expensive procedures than not-for-profit health plans. In fact, for-profit plans were actually more likely than not-for-profit plans to pay for a partial colectomy and a closed cholecystectomy.

An annual report in Pennsylvania that grades doctors and hospitals by examining hospital mortality rates appears to have little credibility with the state's cardiologists and heart surgeons. Researchers surveyed 279 cardiologists and 58 heart surgeons practicing in Pennsylvania. All of the surgeons and 82% of the cardiologists were aware of the annual report. Most cardiologists ignored the report when it came to referring patients to a surgeon. Many believed mortality rates alone do not completely reflect the quality of care. Many also believed that sicker patients would not be treated because they would be more likely to die.