Correlation Between Ophthalmology Market Saturation and Medicare Utilization Rates.

Abstract Purpose To characterize usage of ophthalmologic services by Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) beneficiaries relative to geography-specific market saturation, demographics, and contextual factors Design Cross-sectional study Methods Datasets from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Housing and Urban Development, to calculate county- and state-level ophthalmologic service usage, market saturation, and demographic characteristics. Negative binomial regression models were used to evaluate the association between results and demographic or population-specific variables. Results Ophthalmologic service usage ranged from 58.2% to 15.2%, while saturation ranged from 21763 to 91.4 FFS beneficiaries per registered ophthalmologist. Usage was significantly associated with demographic characteristics in each geography: lower proportion of African American (p= 0.009), Hispanic (p There was no significant correlation between the usage of ophthalmologic services and the geographic market saturation of ophthalmologists (Spearman's rho -0.030, p= 0.227). Conclusions and Relevance Ophthalmologic service usage is significantly influenced by population demographics; however, increased provider density alone appears insufficient to promote the usage of eye care services.