Medication Use in Long-Term Care Facilities and Community Settings for Medicare Beneficiaries with Cardiovascular Disease

This report compares medication use in long-term care facilities and community settings for Medicare beneficiaries with heart conditions. The purpose of this comparison was to evaluate the utility of a new file of institutional drug use in the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS), the premier source of health care information on the Medicare population. Descriptions of medication use include the prevalence of drugs from 12 cardiovascular drug classes and 28 other major therapeutic drug categories. Characteristics of beneficiaries include type of heart disease, co-morbidities, functional levels and health status, demographics, Medicare supplemental coverage, and regional residence. [19 PDF pages]