Summary
Objective:
In French national claims databases, claims are currently anonymous i.e. not linked
to individual patients. In order to improve our estimate of the medical activity related
to cancer in one French region, a statistical method was developed to use claims data
to assess the number of cancer patients hospitalized in acute care.
Methods:
This method used the medical and administrative information available in the claims
(i.e. age, primary site, length of stay) to predict an average number of stays per
patient, followed by a number of patients. It was based on a two-phase study design
using an internal dataset which contained personal identifiers to estimate the model
parameters.
Results:
The predicted number of acute care patients hospitalized in one or several health
care centers in one French region was 38,109 with a 95% predictive interval (37,990;
38,228) for the first six months of 2002. A prediction error of 24% was found.
Conclusion:
We provide a good estimate of the morbidity in acute care hospitals using claims
data that is not linked to individual patients. This estimate reflects the medical
activity and can be used to anticipate acute care needs.
Keywords
Health care surveys - patient discharge - population surveillance - neoplasms - Poisson
distribution
