Use of Medicare Administrative Claims to Identify a Population at High Risk for Adverse Drug Events and Hospital Use for Quality Improvement

BACKGROUND: A system using administrative claims to monitor medication use patterns and associated adverse events is not currently available. Establishment of a standardized method to identify Medicare beneficiaries at high risk for adverse events, by assessing Medicare Part D medication claim patterns and associated outcomes, including outpatient adverse drug events (ADEs) and hospital use, enhances prevention efforts and monitoring for quality improvement efforts. OBJECTIVES: To (a) demonstrate that Medicare claims data can be used to identify a population of beneficiaries at high risk for adverse events for quality improvement and (b) define trends associated with adverse health outcomes in identified high-risk beneficiaries for quality improvement opportunities. METHODS: We used Medicare fee-for-service Part D claims data to identify a population at high risk for adverse events by evaluating medication use patterns. This population was taking at least 3 medications, 1 of which was an anticoagulant, an opioid, or an antidiabetic agent. Next, we used associated Part A claims to calculate rates of outpatient ADEs, looking for specific ICD-9-CM or ICD-10-CM codes in the principal diagnosis code position. Rates of hospital use (inpatient hospitalization, observation stays, emergency department visits, and 30-day rehospitalizations) were also evaluated for the identified high-risk population. The data were then shared for targeted quality improvement. RESULTS: We identified 8,178,753 beneficiaries at high risk for adverse events, or 20.7% of the total eligible fee-for-service population (time frame of October 2016-September 2017). The overall rate of outpatient ADEs for beneficiaries at high risk was 46.28 per 1,000, with anticoagulant users demonstrating the highest rate of ADEs (68.52/1,000), followed by opioid users (42.11/1,000) and diabetic medication users (20.72/1,000). As expected, the primary setting for beneficiaries at high risk to seek care for outpatient ADEs was the emergency department, followed by inpatient hospitalizations and observation stays. CONCLUSIONS: Medicare claims are an accessible source of data, which can be used to establish for quality improvement a population at high risk for ADEs and increased hospital use. Using medication use patterns to attribute risk and associated outcomes, such as outpatient ADEs and hospital use, is a simple process that can be readily implemented. The described method has the potential to be further validated and used as a foundation to monitor population-based quality improvement efforts for medication safety. Copyright (C) 2019, Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy. All rights reserved.