The accuracy of medicare claims data in identifying Alzheimer's disease

Comorbid Depression Is Associated with an Increased Risk of Dementia Diagnosis in Patients with Diabetes: A Prospective Cohort Study

“…A prior study at GH has shown ICD-9-CM codes of dementia have high specificity (i.e., 95%), but only about 77% sensitivity compared to prospective comprehensive case ascertainment, including cognitive testing, physical examination, informant interviews, and medical records review (personal communication, Paul Crane). 31 This suggests low rates of false positives. Because depression has been shown to be associated with increased health utilization in patients with diabetes 28 , patients with depression could have more opportunities for a physician to diagnose depression.…”

“…A similar battery of ICD-9 codes from 5 years of Medicare claims data had sensitivity of 87% for identifying cognitive impairment compared to a neuropsychiatric battery among patients in an AD registry, and patients with more severe cognitive impairment were more likely to be identified. 31 …”

Effects of Diagnosed Dementia on Medicare and Medicaid Program Costs

“…The number of Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with ADRD increased dramatically during the 1990s, possibly because of newer diagnostic approaches, particularly PET, and increased availability of prescription drugs to treat the condition (e.g., cholinesterase inhibitors, atypical antipsychotics) (Taylor, Fillenbaum, and Ezell 2002). In our sample, 8.9% of Medicare beneficiaries were diagnosed with ADRD in 1994, and 18.0% in 1999.…”

Risk of Diagnosis of Dementia for Elderly Medicare Beneficiaries After Intensive Care

“…4 12,13 recorded from fee-for-service claims in the subsequent three years of follow-up. Because of privacy restrictions, exact dates of hospital discharge and doctor visits were not available in the SAF -only the quarter (3 month period) of the year.…”