Assessing Readiness of Medicare Beneficiaries to Participate in Informed HealthCare Choices

摘要

This is a formative research to assess the validity of applying theTranstheoretical Model of Change (TTM(trademark)) to a Medicare population using the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) data. The TTM algorithm models behavioral change as a preparation, action, and maintenance. The TTM has bee successfully applied to model a variety of health behaviors such as smoking cessation and alcohol abuse over the last 20 years. This is the first use of the TTM with a Medicare population. As applied to Medicare, the TTM is intended to assess beneficiary readiness to engage in three types of informed choice (behavior)-(1) learning about the Medicare program, (2) learning about Medicare HMOs; and (3) reviewing different health plan options.