Sensitivity of Nursing Home Cost Comparisons to Method of Dementia Diagnosis Ascertainment

Table 3

Dementia versus nondementia nursing home cost (per patient month) and length of stay ratios by method of ascertainment.

Ratios: dementia versus non-dementia
	Costs PPM^a	Costs PPM^a	NH LOS
	Raw (95% C.I.)	adjusted (95%C.I.)^b	Raw (95%C.I.)^c
Panel	0.61 (0.53, 0.70)	0.65 (0.52, 0.80)	1.55 (1.40, 1.72)
Chart	0.62 (0.54, 0.72)	0.70 (0.58, 0.86)	1.38 (1.24, 1.52)
Medicare	0.77 (0.66, 0.90)	0.80 (0.67, 0.96)	1.29 (1.18, 1.40)
Chart or medicare	0.70 (0.62, 0.80)	0.78 (0.66, 0.91)	1.38 (1.25, 1.52)
Chart or medicare or panel	0.66 (0.59, 0.74)	0.68 (0.57, 0.81)	1.53 (1.38, 1.70)

^aCosts inflated to 1997 dollars, models from GEE assuming Gamma distribution for costs. Costs are those incurred in the nursing home up to 24 months after admission and only include those periods in which the patient was in the initial nursing home. ^bAdjustedfor age, gender, race, marital, ADL, chairfast, bedfast, DCG/HCC, Medicare qualified stay, and Medicaid status at admission. ^cModels from GEE assuming Gaussian distribution for length of stay (LOS).