Background Determining anatomic sites and circumstances under which a fracture may be a consequence of osteoporosis is a topic of ongoing debate and controversy that is important to both clinicians and researchers. Methods We conducted a systematic literature review and generated an evidence report on fracture risk based on specific anatomic bone sites as well as fracture diagnosis codes. Using the RAND/UCLA appropriateness process, we convened a multi-disciplinary panel of 11 experts who rated fractures according to their likelihood of being due to osteoporosis based on the evidence report. Fracture sites (as determined by ICD-CM codes) were stratified by four clinical risk factor categories based on age, sex, race/ethnicity (African- American and Caucasian) and presence or absence of trauma. Results Consistent with current clinical experience, the fractures rated most likely due to osteoporosis were the femoral neck, pathologic fractures of the vertebrae, and lumbar and thoracic vertebral fractures. The fractures rated least likely due to osteoporosis were open proximal humerus fractures, skull, and facial bones. The expert panel rated open fractures of the arm (except proximal humerus) and fractures of the tibia/fibula, patella, ribs, and sacrum as being highly likely due to osteoporosis in older Caucasian women but a lower likelihood in younger African American men. Conclusion Osteoporosis attribution scores for all fracture sites were determined by a multidisciplinary expert panel to provide an evidence-based continuum of the likelihood of a fracture being associated with osteoporosis.

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Nursing facilities provide skilled nursing and rehabilitative care to patients for short stays and custodial care to patients for long stays. The type of nursing facility stay (short-or long-term) is a potentially important risk factor and health outcome in health services research and is informative from both medical and fiscal perspectives. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an algorithm to identify the use of nursing facility services and differentiate short-from long-term care using Medicare claims data. We used claims data for a 5% sample of Medicare beneficiaries to develop an algorithm to detect the use of nursing facility services and to distinguish between short-and long-term stays. We tested this algorithm using residency status from Medicaid long-term care claims for dually eligible beneficiaries and using residency status from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS). Among 1,694,051 beneficiaries included in the baseline cohort, 25.6% had some indication of nursing facility residency. Using our algorithm, 59.8% of beneficiaries using any nursing facility care were classified as long-term residents. Validation of the algorithm against Medicaid long-term care claims and MCBS yielded high sensitivity and specificity. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to present a

Fractures impose substantial burdens, in terms of both costs and health, on individuals and health care systems. This is particularly true for older Americans and the Medicare system. The objective of this study was to estimate the costs of care associated with selected fractures among Medicare beneficiaries. This was a retrospective, person-level, pre/postfracture analysis using administrative data. The study used Medicare claims data from 1999 through 2005 for a 5% sample of Medicare beneficiaries. The subjects included Medicare beneficiaries, 65 yr of age, who had at least 13 mo of both Parts A and B coverage and not enrolled in Medicare Advantage and who experienced a closed fracture of the hip, femur, pelvis, tibia/ fibula, ankle, distal forearm, nondistal radius/ulna, humerus, clavicle, spine, or wrist, or any fracture of the distal forearm or ankle during the years 2000 through 2005. The main outcome measures were incremental (greater than baseline) and attributable (directly associated) payments for Medicare-covered services for the first 6 mo after incident fractures. Incremental payments ranged from $7788 (95% CI, $7550-$8025) for distal forearm fractures to $31,310 (95% CI, $31,073-$31,547) for open hip fractures; the attributable payments for distal forearm and hip fractures were $1856 and $18,734, respectively. Fractures are associated with substantial increases in health services utilization and costs among Medicare beneficiaries, but significant proportions of those costs are not directly attributable to fracture treatment. Further research is needed to ascertain other health conditions that are driving costs for Medicare beneficiaries after fractures.

Purpose This study investigates the associations of a history of fracture, comorbid chronic conditions, and demographic characteristics with incident fractures among Medicare beneficiaries. The majority of fracture incidence studies have focused on the hip and on white females. This study examines a greater variety of fracture sites and more population subgroups than prior studies. Methods We used Medicare claims data to examine the incidence of fracture at six anatomic sites in a random 5% sample of Medicare beneficiaries during the time period 2000 through 2005. Results For each type of incident fracture, women had a higher rate than men, and there was a positive association with age and an inverse association with income. Whites had a higher rate than nonwhites. Rates were lowest among African Americans for all sites except ankle and tibia/fibula, which were lowest among Asian Americans. Rates of hip and spine fracture were highest in the South, and fractures of other sites were highest in the Northeast. Fall-related conditions and depressive illnesses were associated with each type of incident fracture, conditions treated with glucocorticoids with hip and spine fractures and diabetes with ankle and humerus fractures. Histories of hip and spine fractures were associated positively with each site of incident fracture except ankle; histories of nonhip, nonspine fractures were associated with most types of incident fracture. Conclusions This study confirmed previously established associations for hip and spine fractures and identified several new associations of interest for nonhip, nonspine fractures.