Identifying Cost & Coverage Barriers to Medicare Beneficiary Access to Specialty Drugs

In the proposed study, we will link electronic health record data from partner PCORnet sites to fee-for-service Medicare claims to observe both physician prescribing and patient medication
filling at the population level. From this novel data source, we will estimate rates of nonadherence to specialty medications for Medicare beneficiaries and will examine the association between not starting or experiencing delays in starting therapy on key clinical outcomes and Medicare spending.