© 2005 Oxford University Press
BRIEF COMMUNICATION |
Criterion Validity of Medicare Chemotherapy Claims in Cancer and Leukemia Group B Breast and Lung Cancer Trial Participants
for the Cancer and Leukemia Group B
Affiliations of authors: Department of Medicine and Institute for Technology Assessment, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA (EBL); CALGB Statistical Center, Durham, NC (JEH); Department of Medicine, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA (JCW); Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA (ICH); Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai Cancer Center, Miami Beach, FL (RL); Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL (RLS); Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (NAC)
Correspondence to: Elizabeth B. Lamont, MD, MS, Institute of Technology Assessment, Massachusetts General Hospital, 101 Merrimac Street, 10th Floor, Boston, MA 02114 (e-mail: elamont{at}partners.org).
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 contemporaneous ambulatory and in-patient Medicare health insurance claims data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The breast trial participants studied were those elderly enrolled between 1995 and 1997 and treated with doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide or this combination with paclitaxel. The lung trial participants studied were those elderly enrolled between 1998 and 2000 and treated with paclitaxel and carboplatin or paclitaxel alone. Comparing CALGB data with Medicare claims, we found the crude sensitivity for chemotherapy administration was 93% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 88% to 96%). Individual chemotherapy agents had similarly high sensitivities, ranging from 81% (95% CI = 70% to 89%) for carboplatin to 91% (95% CI = 79% to 98%) for cyclophosphamide. Agent-specific specificities were 100%. CMS data reliably captured repeat administration of chemotherapy to within one cycle. Administrative Medicare claims data appear to be a valid source of information for chemotherapy administered to elderly Medicare beneficiaries with cancer.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  A. M. Shea, L. H. Curtis, B. G. Hammill, L. D. DiMartino, A. P. Abernethy, and K. A. Schulman Association Between the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 and Patient Wait Times and Travel Distance for Chemotherapy JAMA, July 9, 2008; 300(2): 189 - 196. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 C. J. Bradley, C. W. Given, Z. Luo, C. Roberts, G. Copeland, and B. A. Virnig Medicaid, Medicare, and the Michigan Tumor Registry: A Linkage Strategy Med Decis Making, August 1, 2007; 27(4): 352 - 363. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. R. Yabroff, W. W. Davis, E. B. Lamont, A. Fahey, M. Topor, M. L. Brown, and J. L. Warren Patient Time Costs Associated With Cancer Care J Natl Cancer Inst, January 3, 2007; 99(1): 14 - 23. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. S. Harman, A. G. Hall, and J. Zhang Changes in Health Care Use and Costs After a Break in Medicaid Coverage Among Persons With Depression Psychiatr Serv, January 1, 2007; 58(1): 49 - 54. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
E. B. Lamont, J. E. Herndon II, J. C. Weeks, I. C. Henderson, C. C. Earle, R. L. Schilsky, and N. A. Christakis Measuring disease-free survival and cancer relapse using Medicare claims from CALGB breast cancer trial participants (companion to 9344). J Natl Cancer Inst, September 20, 2006; 98(18): 1335 - 1338. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 E. B. Elkin, A. Hurria, N. Mitra, D. Schrag, and K. S. Panageas Adjuvant Chemotherapy and Survival in Older Women With Hormone Receptor-Negative Breast Cancer: Assessing Outcome in a Population-Based, Observational Cohort J. Clin. Oncol., June 20, 2006; 24(18): 2757 - 2764. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 E. D. Paskett, D. Schrag, A. Kornblith, E. B. Lamont, J. C. Weeks, J. R. Marshall, C. Shapiro, and J. Holland Cancer and leukemia group B cancer control and health outcomes committee: origins and accomplishments. Clin. Cancer Res., June 1, 2006; 12(11): 3601s - 3605s. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|