Enhancement of identifying cancer specialists through the linkage of Medicare claims to additional sources of physician specialty.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To examine the number of cancer specialists identified in three national datasets, the effect of combining these datasets, and the use of refinement rules to classify physicians as cancer specialists.

Data sources

1992-2003 linked Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare data and a cancer-free comparison population of Medicare beneficiaries, Unique Physician Identification Number (UPIN) Registry, and the American Medical Association (AMA) Masterfile.

Study design

We compared differences in counts of cancer specialists identified in Medicare claims only with the number obtained by combining data sources and after using rules to refine specialty identification.

Data extraction

We analyzed physician specialty variables provided on Medi

SUBMITTER: Pollack LA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2677054 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature