Table 1.

Characteristics of selected data sources/research resources in the United States for estimating burden of cancer

Description	SEER-Medicare	MEPS	H-CUP	MCBS	CRN
	SEER tumor registries linked to Medicare claims	National household, medical provider, and insurance survey	Inpatient discharge data from sampled hospitals	National survey linked to Medicare claims	Research centers in managed care organizations
Data characteristics
National or nationally representative	Geographically defined	√	√	√	Geographically defined
Individual-level longitudinal data	√	5 panels over 2 y		√	√
Approximate number of cancer survivors in 2007	>1,000,000	<2,000	>1,000,000	<2,000	>400,000
Duration of information	Medicare eligibility through death	2 y	Hospital admission through discharge	Multiple years	Enrollment through disenrollment or death
Health insurance type	Medicare fee-for-service only	All payors	All payors	All payors	Managed care only
Patients' information
Age distribution	Aged 65+ or disabled (any age)	Aged 18+	All ages	Aged 65+ or disabled (any age)	All ages
Information about patients without cancer	In cancer registry regions	√	√	√	√
Cancer information
Cancer diagnosis	Registry, procedure, or diagnosis codes	Self-report, procedure, or diagnosis codes	Procedure or diagnosis codes	Self-report, procedure, or diagnosis codes	Registry, procedure, or diagnosis codes
Stage at diagnosis	√				√
Treatment	√	√	Inpatient hospital only	√	√
Type of cost estimate
Incidence	√				√
Prevalence in a specific year	√	√	√	√	√
Direct medical cost components
Hospital	√	√	√	√	√
Physician and other outpatient services	√	√		√	√
Outpatient pharmacy	√^a	√		√^a	√
Out of pocket		√		√
Indirect cost components
Productivity loss (e.g., days lost from work)		√
Patient time				√
Caregiver time

Abbreviations: SEER-Medicare, Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results-Medicare; MEPS, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey; H-CUP, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project; MCBS, Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey; CRN, Cancer Research Network.

↵^aData on Medicare part D prescription drug services are available starting in 2006. Before 2006, drugs administered parenterally and their administration was covered by Medicare part B, as were prodrugs, the oral drug equivalent of drugs administered parenterally.