| 1491 Use of patient records to supplement Medicaid claims data | ||
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B.S. TALEKAR, R.G. ROZIER, and S.C. STEARNS, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA Patient records can provide important information on risk factors and health outcomes not available in reimbursement claims files. So it is important to assess agreement between these two data sources on common variables when linking them for research purposes. Objective: To determine agreement on frequency of physician visits in which preventive dental services are provided for children 6-35 months in two data sources— North Carolina (NC) Medicaid claims and patient encounter forms (EFs) completed by physicians as part of a research project evaluating delivery of preventive dental services by non-dental healthcare providers. Methods: An EF database (N=120,164) was linked to NC Medicaid eligibility files using up to 8 combinations of the child's name, date of birth and Medicaid ID number (ID). The resulting file (N=107,549) was linked with claims for Jan'00-Dec'02 using the child's ID. Number of visits for preventive dental services during physician visits from EFs was compared with those in the claims using % agreement and weighted kappa (k) statistics. Results: 85% of EFs (42,897 children) matched with the eligibility file, of which 70.4% (30,217 children) matched with information in the claims for the 3-year study period. 91.6% of children with 1+ EFs had 1+ claims for 1+ preventive visits. Agreement on number of visits was 68.4% overall, and 74.7% when the comparison was restricted to children with 1+ visits in both EFs and claims (k=0.55). 17.2% of total visits recorded in the claims were less than the corresponding number of EFs; 14.3% of visits were greater. Conclusions: Moderate agreement between EFs and claims on number of visits, a key variable in both data sources, was found, suggesting that patient records can supplement information from Medicaid claims. Future research will examine the completeness of EF data on risk assessments and outcomes. Supported by HRSA/CDC/CMS Grant No. ORS 2974-00. | ||
| Seq #170 - Dental Practice Patterns, Technology, and Quality Issues 3:00 PM-4:00 PM, Friday, 10 March 2006 Dolphin Hotel Pacific Hall | ||
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