Predictive value of Medicare claims data for identifying revision of index hip replacement was modest.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the positive predictive value of Medicare claims for identifying revision of total hip replacement (THR), a frequent marker of THR quality and outcome. STUDY DESIGN AND
SETTING: We obtained Medicare Part A (Hospital) claims from seven states on patients that had primary THR from July 1995 through June 1996. We searched claims to determine whether these THR recipients had a subsequent revision THR through December 2006. We selected a sample of subjects with codes indicating both index primary and subsequent revision THR. We obtained medical records for both procedures to establish whether the revision occurred on the same side as index primary THR.
RESULTS: Three hundred seventy-four subjects had codes indicating primary THR in 1995-96 and subsequent revision. Seventy-one percent (95% confidence interval: 66, 76) of the revisions were performed on the index joint and would be correctly attributed as revisions of the index THR, using Medicare claims data.
CONCLUSION: Claims data on revision THR that do not contain information on the side that was operated on are ambiguous with respect to whether the revision was performed on the index or contralateral side. Claims-based analyses of revisions after an index THR should acknowledge and adjust for this source of potential misclassification.