How Well Can Medicare Records Identify Seniors with Cognitive Impairment Needing Assistance with Financial Management?

An increasing population of elderly dementia patients may not be able to administer their own finances. Identifying persons at need is a major challenge. The researchers use nationally-representative data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) linked to Medicare records, Social Security records, and new data on cognition to determine the extent of need and to assess whether Medicare records can accurately identify persons at need.