IMPORTANCE The cost difference is evaluated between delayed sequential cataract surgery (DSCS) and immediate sequential cataract surgery (ISCS) in the United States for patients covered by Medicare. OBJECTIVE To perform a cost-minimization analysis comparing ISCS with DSCS in the United States from the payer, patient, and societal perspectives for the West Tennessee region and nationally. D...

HYPOTHESIS Perioperative morbidity and mortality do not increase in carefully evaluated and managed Medicare and elderly patients undergoing gastric bypass. DESIGN Retrospective review of a prospectively maintained bariatric database. SETTING Academic tertiary care medical center. PATIENTS We reviewed our database of 928 consecutive patients who underwent gastric bypass from March 24, 199...

PURPOSE The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is authorized by the US government to review and disseminate the scientific evidence for clinical preventive services. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the alignment of Medicare preventive services coverage with the recommendations of the USPSTF before implementation of health reform. METHODS We recorded all Medicare coverage for...

BACKGROUND Dispensing data from Medicare Part D standalone prescription drug plans are now available, but characteristics of enrollees with heart failure have not been well described. METHODS AND RESULTS We identified 81 874 patients with prevalent heart failure as of January 1, 2010, in a nationally representative 5% sample of Medicare beneficiaries. We classified patients according to enrol...

OBJECTIVES This report examines the comparability between the rates of inpatient procedures for persons aged 65 and over using the National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS) and Medicare claims data. METHODS The estimates in this report are based on data from NHDS and Medicare claims submitted by hospital providers for inpatient stays among Part A fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries aged 65...

To determine the accuracy with which Medicare claims data measure chemotherapy use in elderly Medicare beneficiaries with cancer, we performed a criterion validation study. We compared gold-standard clinical trial data for 175 elderly cancer patients treated in two Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) breast and lung cancer trials (i.e., 45 from trial 9344 and 130 from trial 9730) with contempor...

Cancer is an important cause of morbidity in the elderly, and many medical conditions and treatments influence cancer risk. The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare database can be used to conduct population-based case-control studies that elucidate the etiology of cancer among the US elderly. SEER-Medicare links data on malignancies ascertained through SEER cancer regist...

OBJECTIVE To examine cost responsiveness and total costs associated with a simulated "value-based" insurance design for statin therapy in a Medicare population with diabetes. METHODS Four-year panels were constructed from the 1997-2005 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey selected by self-report or claims-based diagnoses of diabetes in year 1 and use of statins in year 2 (N = 899). We computed...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the number of lung volume reduction surgery procedures performed on Medicare enrollees from 1994 to 1996. DESIGN Statistical analysis of national Medicare claims data. PATIENTS All Medicare enrollees with emphysema hating claims records for pulmonary resection procedures from January 1, 1993, through December 31, 1996. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Estimated number of lung vo...