More Health Policy this week! Today, we discuss “SNPs” but this is not a podcast about haircuts during the pandemic. We take a deeper dive into the world of Medicare Advantage and what it means for vulnerable patients facing serious illness and those at the end of life.

We are joined by UCSF geriatrics fellow Alex Kazberouk to talk to Dr. Claire Ankuda (Assistant Professor at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Palliative Care Physician) and Dr. Cheryl Phillips (President and CEO of the Special Needs Plan Alliance and past president of the American Geriatrics Society).

We discuss:

• Special Needs Plans (SNPs) for older adults – what they are and what they mean for our patients
• What happens when a Medicare Advantage patient enrolls in hospice and how that may change with the new “Hospice Carve-In”

This is part two of a two part series on Medicare Advantage and healthcare financing. On our prior episode, we heard Dr. Don Berwick’s and Dr. Rick Gilfillan’s critique of Medicare Advantage plans. This week, we bring up a rebuttal to their critique and also talk about quality data and reporting for Medicare Advantage patients.

Alex plays The Purchaser’s Option by Rihannon Giddens (she has so many terrific songs!). Astute online viewers will also spot an appearance of the Team Canada Tokyo 2021 Olympic Jacket and Cheryl’s dog.