Medicare expenditures associated with Alzheimer disease

This study uses 4 years of data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Surve y to compare the use of Medicare covered services for persons who report ha ving a diagnosis or dementia ol Alzheimer disease with those who do not, ad justing for the prevalence of comorbidities and functional limitations. Alt hough overall rates of Medicare spending are higher for demented persons, w hen other factors such as functional status are included in the predictive model, there is no consistent relation between the presence of dementia and higher Medicare spending. In some years, dementia was associated with high er adjusted expenditures for community living persons, whereas nursing home residents with Alzheimer disease have lower Medicare expenditures.