Accuracy of Medicare Claims on Androgen Deprivation Use Among Patients with Prostate Cancer

Objectives:

The main objective of the proposed study is to assess the accuracy of Medicare claims on androgen deprivation use among patients with prostate cancer.

Hypothesis:

Medicare claims can be used to identify patients who have medical or surgical androgen deprivation.

Study subjects & PCOS files:

All patients included in the PCOS will be included in the proposed study.

File needed: Personal file, main abstraction, two-year recurrence abstraction, and cancer treatment information at 2-year and 5-year.

Methods:

To assess the accuracy of Medicare claims in identifying patients treated with androgen deprivation, we plan to link the PCOS data with the SEER-Medicare linked database by case numbers. Patients lack of Part A or Part B coverage or have private insurance or VA coverage after prostate cancer diagnosis will be excluded from the study. Concordance of the data and kappa statistics between the PCOS data and Medicare claims will be used to assess the accuracy of Medicare claims.

Expected results & limitations:

There is mounting evidence that use of primary androgen deprivation has increased substantially in recent years while the value of primary androgen deprivation for localized prostate cancer remains questionable. If the accuracy of Medicare claims is high then they can be used to monitor the time trends at the national level and various geographic levels. Furthermore, SEER-Medicare linked claims can be used to evaluate the potential impact of androgen deprivation on health care cost and outcomes.

Limitation of the study: This validation study assumes the data collected in the PCOS are correct and complete on androgen deprivation. If the assumption is not correct, the results drawn from this study will have limited value.

Data storage & protection:

The data will be stored in a password-protected computer. Only authorized personnel have access to the office where the computer is located.

Personnel:

The investigator, Dr. Lu-Yao, has extensive experiences in using SEER and Medicare data. She is working with several physicians to build algorithms for identifying androgen deprivation from the Medicare claims.

Co-Investigators:

Peter Albertsen

Timeline:

Analysis to be performed: Feb 2004 - June 2005
Manuscript: July - Dec 2005

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