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Leveraging Medicare Part D Data for Antibiotic Stewardship: Peer Comparison Feedback to High-Volume Prescribers in Minnesota

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2025

Madeline Powers
Affiliation:
Minnesota Department of Health
Susan Gerbensky Klammer
Affiliation:
Minnesota Department of Health
Ruth Lynfield
Affiliation:
Minnesota Dept of Health

Abstract

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Background: Older adults are prescribed more antibiotics than younger populations and face increased risks of antibiotic-related adverse events. Identifying high-volume prescribers (HVPs) through Medicare Part D (MPD) datasets and engaging them through targeted intervention, such as peer-comparison audit and feedback, is a way to impact antibiotic prescribing. Methods: We analyzed the 2022 publicly available Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services MPD Prescribers by Provider dataset to summarize the data overall and identify HVPs within each specialty. HVPs were classified as prescribers in the top 10% of antibiotic prescribing by volume within their specialty. Prescribers with 1,316 Minnesota prescribers in 2022 were considered HVPs (top 10% by volume by specialty). After removing certain specialties and those with low prescribing rates, 995 HVPs met criteria and were mailed feedback letters, with 4.32% (43 letters) lost to follow-up. These HVPs were responsible for 28.7% of antibiotic prescriptions for Minnesota’s MPD beneficiaries in 2022. The median antibiotic prescribing rate of these HVPs was 1.8 times higher than that of lower-volume prescribers (Table 1) (p To date, 18 letter recipients responded to the feedback survey, with 22.2% intending to review their current prescribing habits, 22.2% reflecting that there is room for improvement in their prescribing, and 55.6% have accessed or intend to access AS resources. Conclusion: This audit and feedback initiative demonstrated that the MPD dataset can be used as a low-cost method to provide peer-comparison feedback to HVPs. By reaching providers responsible for nearly 30% of antibiotic prescriptions among MPD beneficiaries in Minnesota, this intervention has potential to influence prescribing behaviors. Further work will evaluate feedback and focus on specific provider specialties and drug classes.

Information

Type
Antibiotic Stewardship
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America