Identifying incident oral and pharyngeal cancer cases using Medicare claims.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Baseline and trend data for oral and pharyngeal cancer incidence is limited. A new algorithm was derived using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare linked database to create an algorithm to identify incident cases of oral and pharyngeal cancer using Medicare claims.

Methods

Using a split-sample approach, Medicare claims' procedure and diagnosis codes were used to generate a new algorithm to identify oral and pharyngeal cancer cases and validate its operating characteristics.

Results

The algorithm had high sensitivity (95%) and specificity (97%), which varied little by age group, sex, and race and ethnicity.

Conclusion

Examples of the utility of this algorithm and its operating characteristics include using it to derive base

SUBMITTER: Mahnken JD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3538504 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature