A Claims-Based Examination of Health Care Costs Among Spouses of Patients With Alzheimer's Disease.

Background: Spouses of Alzheimer's disease patients (AD spouses) may experience substantial health effects associated with their partner's chronic cognitive and behavioral dysfunction. Studies examining associations between the medical experiences of AD spouses in the period before and after their partner's AD diagnosis are limited, particularly those which measure health care resource use and cost.

Methods: AD patients were identified through multiple Medicare claims containing an AD diagnostic code.

Treatment patterns and cost-effectiveness of first line treatment of advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer in Medicare patients.

Aim: To assess the cost-effectiveness of first-line pemetrexed/platinum and other commonly administered regimens in a representative US elderly population with advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Materials And Methods: This study utilized the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) cancer registry linked to Medicare claims records. The study population included all SEER-Medicare patients diagnosed in 2008-2009 with advanced non-squamous NSCLC (stages IIIB-IV) as their only primary cancer and who started chemotherapy within 90 days of diagnosis.

Diagnostic Pathways to Alzheimer Disease: Costs Incurred in a Medicare Population.

Despite its implications on the personal and policy level, little is currently known about the specific diagnostic pathways that patients with cognitive impairment (CI) pass through before being diagnosed with Alzheimer disease (AD). Four major diagnostic pathways were identified in the Medicare claims records for 2001 to 2006: AD as initial diagnosis, cognitive disturbance followed by AD; dementia with suspected etiologies followed by AD; dementia without known cause followed by AD; and 1 triple pathway, cognitive disturbance followed by dementia without known cause followed by AD. For all of these pathways, previously low medical costs peaked during patients' month of initial diagnosis and then declined to a level substantially higher than before.

Using U.S. Medicare records to evaluate the indirect health effects on spouses: a case study in Alzheimer's disease patients.

Background: The burden experienced by spouses of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) may have negative consequences for their physical health. We describe here a method for analyzing United States Medicare records to determine the changes in health service use and costs experienced by spouses after their marital partner receives an AD diagnosis.

Methods: We initially identified all beneficiaries in the 2001-2005 Medicare 5% sample who had multiple claims listing the ICD-9 diagnostic code for AD, 331.

Managing Medicare's HIV caseload in the era of suppressive therapy.

Objectives: The 1996 introduction of antiretroviral medications changed Medicare's role in providing HIV care. We analyzed Medicare's patient database in an effort to document the new HIV therapies' effects on expenditures and outcomes.

Methods: We examined the medical billing records of a 5% national Medicare sample from 1997 through 2003.

Injury prevalence among children and adolescents with mental retardation.

Childhood injuries lead to increased morbidity and result in significant costs to public insurance programs. People with mental retardation, most of whom are covered by Medicaid, are at high risk for injury, which has implications for community inclusion, a central policy goal. Medicaid data from inpatient, outpatient, and long-term care settings represent an important new resource for injury surveillance in this population.