title: Does the Relationship of the Proxy to the Target Person Affect the Concordance between Survey Reports and Medicare Claims Measures of Health Services Use?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare concordance of survey reports of health service use versus claims data between self respondents and spousal and nonspousal relative proxies.
  
  
  METHODS
  1995-2010 data from the Survey on Assets and Health Dynamics among the Oldest Old and 1993-2010 Medicare claims for 3,229 individuals (13,488 person-years).
  
  
  METHODS
  Regression models with individual fixed effects were estimated for discordance of any hospitalizations and outpatient surgery and for the numbers of under- and over-reported physician visits.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Spousal proxies were similar to self respondents on discordance. Nonspousal proxies, particularly daughters/daughters-in-law and sons/sons-in-law, had less discordance, mainly due to reduced under-reporting.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Survey reports of health services use from nonspousal relatives are more consistent with Medicare claims than spousal proxies and self respondents.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Health Management and Policy, Economics, and Preventive & Community Dentistry, and Public Policy Center, University of Iowa, 145 N. Riverside Dr., 100 College of Public Health Bldg., Room N248, Iowa City, IA, 52242-2007.|Health Economics Group at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA.
authors.forename: George L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Wehby
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA.
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA.
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ullrich
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA.
authors.forename: Yiyue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lou
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Management and Policy, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA.
authors.forename: Fredric D
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Wolinsky
mesh_terms: D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007345:Insurance Claim Review / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D006278:Medicare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019727:Proxy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D057566:Self Report; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D018454:Spouses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States
keywords: Medicare claims; Survey reports; proxy respondents