%0 Journal Article %J Journal of the American Geriatrics Society %D 2022 %T Medicare spending associated with a dementia diagnosis among older adults. %A Hoffman, Geoffrey J %A Donovan T Maust %A Harris, Melissa %A Ha, Jinkyung %A Davis, Matthew A %K Dementia %K Diagnosis %K impairment %K Medicare %K utilization %X

BACKGROUND: Over 6 million Americans have Alzheimer's Disease or Related Dementia (ADRD) but whether spikes in spending surrounding a new diagnosis reflect pre-diagnosis morbidity, diagnostic testing, or treatments for comorbidities is unknown.

METHODS: We used the 1998-2018 Health and Retirement Study and linked Medicare claims from older (≥65) adults to assess incremental quarterly spending changes just before versus just after a clinical diagnosis (diagnosis cohort, n = 2779) and, for comparative purposes, for a cohort screened as impaired based on the validated Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS) (impairment cohort, n = 2318). Models were adjusted for sociodemographic and health characteristics. Spending patterns were examined separately by sex, race, education, dual eligibility, and geography.

RESULTS: Among the diagnosis cohort, mean (SD) overall spending was $4773 ($9774) per quarter - 43% of which was spending on hospital care ($2048). In adjusted analyses, spending increased by $8400 (p < 0.001), or 156%, from $5394 in the quarter prior to $13,794 in the quarter including the diagnosis. Among the cohort in which impairment was incidentally detected using the TICS, adjusted spending did not change from just before to after detection of impairment, from $2986 before and $2962 after detection (p = 0.90). Incremental spending changes did not differ by sex, race, education, dual eligibility, or geography.

CONCLUSION: Large, transient spending increases accompany an ADRD diagnosis that may not be attributed to impairment or changes in functional status due to dementia. Further study may help reveal how treatment for comorbidities is associated with the clinical diagnosis of dementia, with potential implications for Medicare spending.

%B Journal of the American Geriatrics Society %V 70 %P 2592-2601 %G eng %N 9 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35583388?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1111/jgs.17835 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of the American Geriatrics Society %D 2022 %T Time to dementia diagnosis by race: a retrospective cohort study. %A Davis, Matthew A %A Lee, Kathryn A %A Harris, Melissa %A Ha, Jinkyung %A Kenneth M. Langa %A Bynum, Julie P W %A Hoffman, Geoffrey J %K Dementia %K Diagnosis %K Disparities %K Medicare %K race %X

BACKGROUND: Non-Hispanic Black individuals may be less likely to receive a diagnosis of dementia compared to non-Hispanic White individuals. These findings raise important questions regarding which factors may explain this observed association and any differences in the time to which disparities emerge following dementia onset.

METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using survey data from the 1995 to 2016 Health and Retirement Study linked with Medicare fee-for-service claims. Using the Hurd algorithm (a regression-based approach), we identified dementia onset among older adult respondents (age ≥65 years) from the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status and proxy respondents. We determined date from dementia onset to diagnosis using Medicare data up to 3 years following onset using a list of established diagnosis codes. Cox Proportional Hazards modeling was used to examine the association between an individual's reported race and likelihood of diagnosis after accounting for sociodemographic characteristics, income, education, functional status, and healthcare use.

RESULTS: We identified 3435 older adults who experienced a new onset of dementia. Among them, 30.1% received a diagnosis within 36 months of onset. In unadjusted analyses, the difference in cumulative proportion diagnosed by race continued to increase across time following onset, p-value <0.001. 23.8% of non-Hispanic Black versus 31.4% of non-Hispanic White participants were diagnosed within 36 months of dementia onset, Hazard Ratio = 0.73 (95% CI: 0.61, 0.88). The association persisted after adjustment for functional status and healthcare use; however, these factors had less of an impact on the strength of the association than income and level of education.

CONCLUSION: Lower diagnosis rates of dementia among non-Hispanic Black individuals persists after adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics, functional status, and healthcare use. Further understanding of barriers to diagnosis that may be related to social determinants of health is needed to improve dementia-related outcomes among non-Hispanic Black Americans.

%B Journal of the American Geriatrics Society %G eng %R 10.1111/jgs.18078 %0 Journal Article %J Health Services Research %D 2021 %T Impact of Medicare Eligibility on Informal Caregiving for Surgery and Stroke %A DeRoo, Ana %A Ha, Jinkyung %A Norcott, Alexandra %A Regenbogen, Scott %A Geoffrey J Hoffman %K Eligibility Determination %K Informal caregiving %K Medicare %K Stroke %K Surgery %X Research Objective Over 40 million older Americans rely on informal care (unpaid assistance for personal care such and instrumental support, including toileting, bathing, and shopping). Prior work illustrates 68–230% greater spending on post-acute care after surgery for Medicare beneficiaries compared to older commercial insurance enrollees. Such enhanced access to post-acute care may reduce the need for family and friend caregiving support for rehabilitation following acute medical events. While use of informal care is substantial among older Americans, little is known about informal support for patients after acute medical events, and how formal post-acute care influences its use. Study Design We used 1998 to 2018 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) data to assess changes in weekly hours of informal care received by individuals experiencing acute events before and after Medicare eligibility. We created two similar cohorts of individuals near the Medicare eligibility age: pre-Medicare, or individuals ages 59–66 and not covered by Medicare; and Medicare, or individuals ages 67–74. We used a threshold of 67, rather than 65, for the Medicare cohort to account for the two-year lookback period used in HRS survey questions. The cohorts were matched using inverse probability treatment weights. A regression discontinuity design assessed three types of caregiving – the proportion of respondents receiving care, intensity of care among care recipients, and care intensity among all respondents – before and after Medicare eligibility. We estimated generalized linear models with a log link and gamma distribution that regressed informal care on Medicare status, a centered age variable, and an interaction between Medicare status and centered age. Sensitivity analyses included stratification by surgery type and by sex. Population Studied 4264 Health and Retirement Study participants near the age of Medicare eligibility in one of three self-reported acute medical cohorts: stroke, heart surgery, or joint surgery. Principal Findings Among near-retirement individuals, 2031 (47.6%) had a stroke, 1038 (24.3%) underwent heart surgery, and 1038 (28.0%) underwent joint surgery. Of the 937 (22.3%) of patients who reported receiving care from an informal caregiver, average care measured 34.0 (SD: 49.2) weekly hours. Mean (SD) weekly informal caregiving hours were 7.5 (27.0) overall, and 12.1 (34.7), 3.8 (18.5), and 2.9 (14.1) for stroke, heart surgery, and joint surgery patients, respectively. In adjusted analyses, the proportion of stroke patients receiving informal care decreased from 39.5% to 28.6% (or by 28%) and the average weekly amount of care decreased from 21.0 to 10.3 hours (or 51%) after Medicare enrollment. Non-significant decreases were observed for the other medical cohorts. There was a non-significant average decrease of 22.8 hours (or 40%) in the intensity of care received by men after one of three events. Conclusions Access to Medicare coverage was associated with a 51% reduction in informal care received by older Medicare stroke patients, potentially by increasing access to post-acute services. Implications for Policy or Practice Post-acute care is increasingly targeted for cost savings under Medicare policies, which may restrict access to post-acute care and rehabilitation, impacting demand for informal care for older adults with stroke. %B Health Services Research %V 56 %P 61-62 %G eng %N S2 %R 10.1111/1475-6773.13783 %0 Journal Article %J Jamia Open %D 2020 %T Cardiovascular disease risk prediction for people with type 2 diabetes in a population-based cohort and in electronic health record data %A Szymonifka, Jackie %A Conderino, Sarah %A Christine T Cigolle %A Ha, Jinkyung %A Mohammed U Kabeto %A Yu, Jaehong %A John A. Dodson %A Thorpe, Lorna %A Caroline S Blaum %A Zhong, Judy %K Cardiovascular disease %K type 2 diabetes %X Electronic health records (EHRs) have become a common data source for clinical risk prediction, offering large sample sizes and frequently sampled metrics. There may be notable differences between hospital-based EHR and traditional cohort samples: EHR data often are not population-representative random samples, even for particular diseases, as they tend to be sicker with higher healthcare utilization, while cohort studies often sample healthier subjects who typically are more likely to participate. We investigate heterogeneities between EHR- and cohort-based inferences including incidence rates, risk factor identifications/quantifications, and absolute risks.This is a retrospective cohort study of older patients with type 2 diabetes using EHR from New York University Langone Health ambulatory care (NYULH-EHR, years 2009–2017) and from the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS, 1995–2014) to study subsequent cardiovascular disease (CVD) risks. We used the same eligibility criteria, outcome definitions, and demographic covariates/biomarkers in both datasets. We compared subsequent CVD incidence rates, hazard ratios (HRs) of risk factors, and discrimination/calibration performances of CVD risk scores.The estimated subsequent total CVD incidence rate was 37.5 and 90.6 per 1000 person-years since T2DM onset in HRS and NYULH-EHR respectively. HR estimates were comparable between the datasets for most demographic covariates/biomarkers. Common CVD risk scores underestimated observed total CVD risks in NYULH-EHR.EHR-estimated HRs of demographic and major clinical risk factors for CVD were mostly consistent with the estimates from a national cohort, despite high incidences and absolute risks of total CVD outcome in the EHR samples. %B Jamia Open %@ 2574-2531 %G eng %R https://doi.org/10.1093/jamiaopen/ooaa059