Using medicare data to identify individuals who are electricity dependent to improve disaster preparedness and response

K. DeSalvo, N. Lurie, K. Finne, C. Worrall, A. Bogdanov, A. Dinkler, S. Babcock and J. Kelman

American Journal of Public Health, 2014, vol. 104, issue 7, 1160-1164

Abstract: Duringadisasterorprolonged power outage, individuals who use electricity-dependent medical equipment are often unable to operate it and seek care in acute care settings or local shelters. Public health officials often report that they do not have proactive and systematic ways to rapidly identify and assist these individuals. In June 2013, we piloted a first-in-the-nation emergency preparedness drill in which we used Medicare claims data to identify individuals with electricitydependent durable medical equipment during a disaster and securely disclosed it to a local health department. We found that Medicare claims data were 93% accurate in identifying individuals using a home oxygen concentrator or ventilator. The drill findings suggest that claims data can be useful in improving preparedness and response for electricitydependent populations.

Keywords: article; disaster planning; electricity; human; insurance; medicare; methodology; power supply; public health; reproducibility; statistics; United States, Disaster Planning; Electric Power Supplies; Electricity; Humans; Insurance Claim Review; Medicare; Public Health; Reproducibility of Results; United States (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2014.302009_6

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2014.302009

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