Health Affairs Publishes Two New Age-Friendly Health Papers in January 2026
Health Affairs has published two new Age-Friendly Health papers in its January 2026 issue. The research articles are part of Health Affairs’ Age-Friendly Health series supported by JAHF.
Health Affairs January issue:
Community-Entry Home Health Made Up Nearly Half of Home Health Episodes and Spending in Traditional Medicare, 2017–21 by Ilana Salant, Mark Shepard, Nicole Maestas, Timothy J. Layton, and David C. Grabowski
Medicare home health care is often characterized as a postacute care benefit, yet community-entry users—those admitted without a preceding hospitalization—account for nearly half of all spending and episodes in traditional Medicare. Using Medicare administrative data, the authors analyzed differences between community-entry and postacute home health users. They documented significant state-level variation in community-entry prevalence, with changes in community-entry share that were positively associated with changes in overall home health spending. Findings reveal a fundamental tension between policies that favor postacute care and the reality of Medicare home health use, which serves a substantial population with clinical and demographic profiles that differ from those of postacute care users.
Access To Dental Care Among People Newly Eligible for a Medicare Dental Benefit by Lisa Simon and Nicholas Daley
The authors' analysis of 2017 to 2022 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey data found that approximately 1.31 million Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries annually were eligible for a dental benefit established in 2023. Eligible beneficiaries were just as likely to have dental insurance as fee-for-service beneficiaries who were ineligible for the benefit.
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