Research by Analysis Group on Classifying Melanoma Stage in a Medicare Population Earns Highest Honor from AMCP 2024
February 1, 2024
An Analysis Group study in collaboration with researchers from Bristol-Myers Squibb has been awarded a platinum ribbon by the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP), the organization’s highest distinction.
The researchers’ goal was to address the persistent challenge of identifying cancer stages in administrative claims data due to a lack of clinical information. A team including Analysis Group Managing Principal Eric Wu, Vice President Keith Betts, and Manager Ella Du, as well as researchers from Bristol-Myers Squibb, developed and validated a tree-based algorithm to classify disease stage in patients with melanoma using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare data. The authors’ findings suggest that tree-based algorithms can effectively leverage administrative claims-level data within the Medicare population to classify melanoma stage, potentially laying the groundwork for broader application in other claims databases.
“Development of a Predictive Administrative Claims-Based Algorithm for Melanoma Stage Classification” will be presented at the AMCP 2024 Annual Meeting, which will be held in New Orleans April 16–19, 2024.