Measuring health outcomes for older people using the sage database

We establish the potential for outcomes evaluation of a long-term care popu lation-based dataset. Data come from the Health Care Financing Administrati on's case-mix and quality demonstration project including all Medicare/ Med icaid certified homes of five U.S. states during 1992-1994. Using the Minim um Data Set, we identified nearly 70,000 residents over 65 years of age wit h congestive heart failure. We provide a preliminary analysis of pharmacoth erapy of congestive heart failure and its effects on decline in physical fu nctioning. Functional outcome, expressed as the rate of ADL decline, was im proved for patients on combination therapy relative to those on digoxin or ACE-inhibitors alone. The availability of a population-based data set provi des a means of evaluating current policies and practices.