Date that beneficiary first met claims criteria for the cataract indicator

This variable is contained in the following files:

Master Beneficiary Summary File (MBSF): 27 CCW Chronic Conditions Segment

SAS Name

CATARACT_EVER

This variable shows the date when the beneficiary first met the criteria for the Chronic Condition Data Warehouse (CCW) cataract indicator. The variable will be blank for beneficiaries that have never had the condition.

Comments

The earliest possible date for anyone in the CCW is January 1, 1999. If the beneficiary became eligible for Medicare after that, the earliest possible date will be some time after his/her coverage start date (i.e., the COVSTART variable in the Beneficiary File).

ResDAC Comments

From CY 2017 to CY 2021, the MBSF: Chronic Conditions segment also has a newer (CC30) version. The algorithm used to create the First Occurrence of Cataract variable in the CC30 version includes different DX codes. Different DX codes means that codes were added and removed between versions.