Prescription medication cost-related non-adherence among Medicare CAHPS respondents: disparity by Hispanic ethnicity

Abstract

Purpose: We examined whether there was disparity in prescription medication cost-related non-adherence (CRN) by Hispanic ethnicity among Medicare enrollees.

Methods: Multivariate logistic regression, adjusting for race, other socio-demographic variables, health status, health care utilization, and patient rating of their personal physician, was used to examine association of Hispanic ethnicity with CRN using cross-sectional data from Medicare's Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) survey (data collected in Spring 2007).

Results: Hispanic respondents constituted 6.9% (unweighted n=22,304) of the analytic sample (unweighted n=272,701; response rate 5 48%). Overall, 13.4% of respondents reported CRN; among Hispanics and non-Hispanics, 20.3% and 12.9% reported CRN, respectively, p<.0001. Adjusted odds ratio (95% CI) of reporting CRN in the past six months was 1.18 (1.08, 1.29) for Hispanic compared with non-Hispanic respondents.

Conclusions: Hispanic ethnicity was significantly associated with CRN. More research is needed to understand interventions to eliminate the disparity for this minority group.