In a technical test-posting last week, I reworked the dataset used by Medicare to show where prescriptions of opioids to Part-D Medicare patients were written in Kentucky in 2013 by five-digit Zip Code. I reworked the data to add the average number of opioid prescriptions written by an opioid prescriber in that zip code. This supplements Medicare’s own calculation of the percent of all prescriptions that are for opioids in a given area. Both these indices provide insight into the intensity of opioid prescribing in a given area. In today’s posting, I add a map of the same data broken down by Kentucky county. Not surprisingly, significant geographic variation exists in both maps that is compatible both with public perception of places where prescription drug abuse is prevalent, and locations where individual prescriber outliers practice. This particular dataset is based on the principal business address of the prescriber, but I have shown that prescribing of opioids to Medicare patients correlates strongly with prescribing to all patients, and that not unexpectedly, the location of the prescriber predicts were the patients live. Descriptions of the underlying data and caveats for its use are discussed in earlier articles.
Mapping by county:
Below is a map of opioid prescribing to Medicare patients by county. The maps are fully interactive. The viewer can use the legend to switch from one measured index to another, or to zoom in on various areas. Clicking on a shaded area displays the underlying data for that county.
View a larger version of CMS Opioids KY Counties 2013 created with eSpatial mapping software.
Continue reading “Mapping Part-D Medicare Opioid Prescriptions in Kentucky By County and Zip Code”