Resource Utilization and Costs of Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Data were analyzed from the 1999-2001 Medicare Beneficiary Encrypted Files for patients with age-related macular degeneration, an ophthalmic condition characterized by central vision loss. Classifying AMD subtype by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modifications (ICD-9-CM) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2003) code, resource utilization rates increased with disease progression. Individuals with more severe disease (wet only or wet and dry AMD) had greater costs than did those with less severe disease (drusen only or dry only).