title: [Discretionary decisions in claims data analyses and their effects - an explorative comparison using the example of a cost of illness study on dementia].
abstract: Claims data-based studies provide insight into the delivery of health care services within the statutory health insurance (SHI) system. So far discretionary decisions concerning the definition of service utilization are seldom discussed. Using claims data of 9 147 dementia patients insured with AOK Bavaria SHI fund as an example, this paper compares different definitions of service utilisation and the corresponding costs of care. In total, the different approaches do not always result in different figures. Indeed the observed variation depends on the relative frequency of equivocally interpretable services within the study sample. Based on these results it is possible to provide recommendations for future standards for claims data analyses.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Gesundheitsökonomie und Management im Gesundheitswesen/Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg. l.schwarzkopf@helmholtzmuenchen.de
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schwarzkopf
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Menn
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Holle
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003704:Dementia / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015276:Health Care Rationing / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007344:Insurance Claim Reporting / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult