SEER-Medicare: Measurement & Methods

The SEER-Medicare data have great potential utility for a variety of analyses. However, the files are complex. With the growing use of these data, there is a need to encourage consistent measures and methods across projects. In November, 2000, the National Cancer Institute convened a two-day meeting of researchers who are experienced in the use of SEER-Medicare or other claims databases. The goal of the meeting was to identify common issues related to the use of these data and promote more standardized measures and methods among researchers using the SEER-Medicare data. Proceedings from this meeting have been published as a supplement to the August 2002 issue of Medical Care and cover a variety of topics including how to assess comorbidity, cancer screening, treatment, provider characteristics and healthcare costs.

NCI is creating the Observational Research in Oncology Toolbox, a set of interactive databases to assist researchers identify applicable codes related to the diagnosis, and treatment of cancer.