Porthole
Exploring Use of Medicare Advantage Encounter Data to Improve Estimation for the Population of Medicare Beneficiaries (307894)
*Nicholas D Davis, NORC at the University of ChicagoHolly Hagerty, NORC at the University of Chicago
Michael Trierweiler, NORC at the University of Chicago
Keywords: MCBS, Medicare Advantage, administrative data, encounter, survey, estimation
Medicare Advantage (MA) encounter data are newly available and contain information about services provided to beneficiaries enrolled in MA plans. These data may be useful in improving the accuracy of estimates from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS). MCBS data on the utilization and costs of health services are matched to traditional Fee-For-Service (FFS) claims to correct and impute survey-reported payment amounts and to correct for unreported health events. The proportion of Medicare beneficiaries in MA plans is now over one-third and growing, however, and for these respondents FFS claims are not available. MA encounter data may be used to supplement the claims match for MCBS sample members enrolled in MA plans, improving imputation procedures and final estimates of beneficiary utilization and cost. We assess the quality and representativeness of the MA encounter data, evaluate the feasibility of matching encounter records to survey-reported events, and quantify the extent to which encounter data can supplement and expand upon MCBS survey data to improve estimates by direct matching or providing the basis for additional imputation and adjustments.