Cheryl Damberg (RAND) and coauthors on primary care spending of Medicare beneficiaries

Care provided by primary care practitioners accounts for a small fraction of total spending among Medicare beneficiaries, according to a new RAND Corporation study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

Depending on whether narrow or expansive definitions of primary care are used, primary care spending represents 2.12% to 4.88% of total medical and prescription spending by Parts A, B and D of the Medicare program.