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Scientific Oral Presentations

Care Equity, Quality, and Safety

Session: Scientific Oral Presentations 1 - Care Equity, Quality, and Safety

Geospatial Analysis of Hearing Aid-Related Services Among Medicare Patients, 2017–2021

Sunday, September 29, 2024
1:12 PM – 1:18 PM EDT
Location: MBCC, 224
Disclosure(s):
Jeffrey Li:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Vinay D. Veluvolu:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Mark S. Nyaeme:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Introduction: To investigate the geographic clustering of audiology healthcare service utilization, and determining hot spot areas of high utilization, cold spot areas of low utilization, and identifying socioeconomic factors in correlation.

Methods: Multiple county-level national databases were reviewed including Center for Medicare Services (CMS) physician billing data, CMS Medicare demographic data, United States Census socioeconomic data, and USDA from 2017-2021. Hearing aid-related service utilization was determined by Audiology CPT/HCPCS Codes outlined in the ASHA 2021 guidelines. The normalized spending on hearing aid-related services per service day was defined as the total spend over the recorded number of service days spent on auditory services. We employed a Python-based script for database building, GeoDa, Moran’s I cluster coefficient, and a one-way ANOVA to chart and analyze demographic, geographic, and socioeconomic trends.

Results: Counties experiencing the highest spending on hearing aid-related services are concentrated around major metropolitan areas. When the spending was normalized for service days, the average expenditure was highest in the Middle and South Atlantic regions, with MD and PA counties having averaged about 2.7 times higher ($299.78 and $294.26, respectively) than the national average of $110.83 per service day. Cold spots were predominantly found in lower-population states with a greater percentage of the population in poverty and afflicted with comorbidities.

Conclusions: The average spending and service days related to hearing aid services are valuable indicators for detecting the usage of hearing aids and other auditory support services. Currently, only 1 in 5 Americans diagnosed with hearing issues use a hearing aid, with many citing cost and access to services as barriers to usage. With the recently expanded 2023 Medicare auditory services covering the costs associated with hearing tests, including diagnosis, fitting, and adjustment of hearing aids that were not covered previously, we anticipate a nationwide increase in auditory spending reflected in the 2023 census.

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Jeffrey Li

    Medical Student
    Carle Illinois Medical School
    urbana, IL, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

    • Co-Author(s)

  • Vinay D. Veluvolu

    Medical Student
    Carle Illinois College of Medicine
    Urbana, IL, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

  • Mark S. Nyaeme

    Medical Student
    UIUC - Carle Illinois College of Medicine
    urbana, IL, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

    • Senior Author(s)

  • Nathan I. Ackerman, MD

    Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine
    Carle - Illinois College of Medicine
    Champaign, IL, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.