Use of Claims Data to Screen for Functional Limitations Among Medicare Beneficiaries
This paper describes the development of a survey-based index of functional limitations and a new claims-based model for predicting limitations.
Debra Saliba (she/her) is an affiliated adjunct physician policy researcher at RAND and a professor of medicine and the Anna & Harry Borun Endowed Chair in Geriatrics at UCLA. At the Los Angeles VA she is associate director for education in the HSR Center of Innovation. As a practicing geriatrician and health systems researcher, Saliba's research focuses on creating tools and knowledge that improve quality of care and quality of life of older adults across care settings, including hospitals, home, post-acute care, and nursing homes. She developed the VES-13, a survey that identifies vulnerable elders living in the community. Saliba was principal investigator for CMS's MDS 3.0 Revision project and collaborative VA MDS Validation project. National tests showed significant gains in MDS reliability, validity, staff satisfaction, and efficiency. Saliba's recent research includes evaluating telehealth use by home health agencies; evaluating dementia diagnoses across care settings and understanding related service use and outcomes; exploring influences on hospital discharge outcomes; improving metrics that reflect the relationship between nursing home quality and staffing structures; and building an explanatory trials network for nursing homes. Saliba is executive editor for the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society and past president and board chair of the American Geriatrics Society. Saliba serves on several national expert panels, including the CMS 5-star TEP. Saliba received her M.D. from the University of Alabama, where she also completed internal medicine residency. She completed fellowships in health services research and geriatric medicine at UCLA where she received an M.P.H. in epidemiology.
Education
M.D., University of Alabama; M.P.H. in epidemiology, UCLA School of Public Health
Concurrent Non-RAND Positions
Anna and Harry Borun Chair in Geriatrics and Gerontology, University of California, Los Angeles; Director, UCLA/JH Borun Center for Gerontological Research; Research Physician, VA GLA GRECC; Associate Director for Education, VA GLA HSR Center of Innovation
Selected Work
- Saliba D, Orlando M, Wenger NS, Hays RD, Rubenstein LZ, "Identifying a Short Functional Disability Screen for Older Persons," J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci, 2000
- Saliba D, Elliott M, Rubenstein LZ, Solomon DH, Young RT, Kamberg CJ, Roth C, MacLean CH, Shekelle PG, Sloss EM, Wenger NS, "The Vulnerable Elders Survey (VES-13): A Tool for Identifying Vulnerable Older People in the Community.," J Am Geriatr Soc, 2001
- Saliba D, Buchanan J, Kington RS, "Function and Response of Nursing Facilities during Community Disaster," Am J Public Health, 2004
- Edelen MO, Saliba D, "Correspondence of Verbal Descriptor and Numeric Rating Scales for Pain Intensity: An Item Response Theory Calibration," J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci, 2010
- Kramer J, Jouldjian S, Wang M, Dang J, Mitchell M, Finke B, Saliba D, "Do Correlates of Dual Use by American Indian and Alaska Native Veterans Operate Uniformly Across the Veterans Health Administration and the Indian Health Service?" J Gen Intern Med, 2011
- Saliba D, Buchanan J, "Making the Investment Count: Revision of the Minimum Data Set for Nursing Homes, MDS 3.0," J Am Med Dir Assoc, 2012
- Elliott MN, Beckett MK, W Cohea C, Lehrman WG, Goldstein E, Schaefer JH, Giordano LA, Saliba D., "Inpatient Care Experiences Differ for VA and Non-VA Hospitals, With Different Patterns by Health, Race, and Ethnicity," Med Care Res Rev.
- National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Board on Health Care Services; Committee on the Quality of Care in Nursing Homes , The National Imperative to Improve Nursing Home Quality: Honoring Our Commitment to Residents, Families, and Staff, National Academies Press (US)
Authored by Debra Saliba
76 Results
