Geographic Variation in Medicare Part B Drug Spending

Medicare Part B provides access to a limited but important range of drugs and biologicals administered in a physician’s office or other outpatient settings. Policymakers have scrutinized the separate payments that Medicare makes for Part B drugs based on rising aggregate and per capita spending.

This report describes the geographic variation of Part B drug utilization across the United States using Core-based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) and examines potential drivers of these utilization differences.