Measuring experiences of patients with cancer with care: The SEER-CAHPS linked data resource.

Abstract

238 Background: Care experience ratings are recognized as measures of quality. We introduce a new resource, SEER-CAHPS, linking cancer registry data from the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program with Medicare claims and the Medicare Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) survey. Methods: The SEER-CAHPS data resource includes registry data from 1973-2011 (diagnosis, incidence, mortality, and sociodemographic data), Medicare CAHPS survey data from 1998-2013 (sociodemographic, health status, and care experience ratings), and Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) claims data from 2002-2013. SEER-CAHPS includes global ratings of overall care, personal doctor, specialist, health plan, and prescription drug plan and composite ratings of doctor communication, care coordination, getting needed care, and getting care quickly. The data also contain optional survey weights to account for the Medicare CAHPS sampling design. Results: Currently, SEER-CAHPS includes 205,339 individuals with a history of cancer documented in SEER (FFS: 26,802 with a survey before cancer diagnosis, and 55,231 with a survey after cancer diagnosis; Medicare Advantage [MA]: 57,227 with a survey before cancer diagnosis and 71,436 with a survey after cancer diagnosis). The database also includes 724,965 MCAHPS respondents without cancer in SEER regions (FFS: 282,592; MA: 447,358). The data provide insights on topics including experiences of cancer patients in their last year of life; experiences of cancer survivors; experiences of dually eligible (Medicare-Medicaid) cancer patients; and the associations of guideline-concordant follow-up care with patient experiences among people with colorectal cancer. We will demonstrate project sample-size estimation and present instructions for submitting data access applications. Conclusions: SEER-CAHPS provides population-based, cancer-specific data on patient experiences and associations with both health outcomes and healthcare utilization.