ArticlePharmacoepidemiology and drug safety2017
Quantification of missing prescriptions in commercial claims databases: results of a cohort study.
Article in Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed.
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- Burden of illness and mortality in men with Adrenomyeloneuropathy: a retrospective cohort study.Orphanet journal of rare diseases · 2024Article
- Treatment patterns for patients initiating novel acute migraine specific medications (nAMSMs) in the context of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) pathway.The journal of headache and pain · 2023Article
- Data Missingness Reporting and Use of Methods to Address It in Critical Care Cohort Studies.Critical care explorations · 2023Article
- Examining Real-World Adherence to Nusinersen for the Treatment of Spinal Muscular Atrophy Using Two Large US Data Sources.Advances in therapy · 2023Article
- Differences between men and women in response to antiseizure medication use and the likelihood of developing treatment resistant epilepsy.Epilepsia open · 2022Article
- Nondifferential Treatment Misclassification Biases Toward the Null? Not a Safe Bet for Active Comparator Studies.American journal of epidemiology · 2022Article
- Real-world Adherence to Nusinersen in Adults with Spinal Muscular Atrophy in the US: A Multi-site Chart Review Study.Journal of neuromuscular diseases · 2022Article
- Drug exposure misclassification in pharmacoepidemiology: Sources and relative impact.Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety · 2021Article
- Comparative Clinical and Economic Outcomes Associated with Warfarin Versus Apixaban in the Treatment of Patients with Venous Thromboembolism in a Large U.S. Commercial Claims Database.Journal of managed care & specialty pharmacy · 2020Article
- Differences in Patient Demographics and Healthcare Costs of Patients with PIDD Receiving Intravenous or Subcutaneous Immunoglobulin Therapies in the United States.American health & drug benefits · 2019Article
- Comparison of Pharmacy Database Methods for Determining Prevalent Chronic Medication Use.Medical care · 2019Article
- Chronic use of tramadol after acute pain episode: cohort study.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2019Observational
- Identifying Smoking Status and Smoking Cessation Using a Data Linkage Between the Kentucky Cancer Registry and Health Claims Data.JCO clinical cancer informatics · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThis study aims to quantify the magnitude of missed dispensings in commercial claims databases.
methodsA retrospective cohort study has been used linking PharMetrics, a commercial claims database, to a prescription database (LRx) that captures pharmacy dispensings independently of payment method, including cash transactions. We included adults with dispensings for opioids, diuretics, antiplatelet medications, or anticoagulants. To determine the degree of capture of dispensings, we calculated the number of subjects with the following: (1) same number of dispensings in both databases; (2) at least one dispensing, but not all dispensings, missed in PharMetrics; and (3) all dispensings missing in PharMetrics. Similar analyses were conducted using dispensings as the unit of analysis. To assess whether a dispensing in LRx was in PharMetrics, the dispensing in PharMetrics had to be for the same medication class and within ±7 days in LRx.
resultsA total of 1 426 498 subjects were included. Overall, 68% of subjects had the same number of dispensings in both databases. In 13% of subjects, PharMetrics identified ≥1 dispensing but also missed ≥1 dispensing. In 19% of the subjects, PharMetrics missed all the dispensings. Taking dispensings as the unit of analysis, 25% of the dispensings present in LRx were not captured in PharMetrics. These patterns were similar across all four classes of medications. Of the dispensings missing in PharMetrics, 48% involved a subject who had >1 health insurance plan.
conclusionsCommercial claims databases provide an incomplete picture of all prescriptions dispensed to patients. The lack of capture goes beyond cash transactions and potentially introduces substantial misclassification bias. © 2017 The Authors. Pharmacoepidemiology & Drug Safety Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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