Table 2.

Monte Carlo Simulation Results to Test the Robustness of an Asthma Quality Indicator^a to Random Data Loss

	Baseline Sample		Baseline Sample with Redundant Controller Medication Fills Removed		Baseline Sample with Half of Controller Medication Fills Removed
Loss of All Data for (x) Person-Months	QI Rate	Percent Deterioration in QI Rate	QI Rate	Percent Deterioration in QI Rate	QI Rate	Percent Deterioration in QI Rate
%	Mean (SE)	%	Mean (SE)	%	Mean (SE)	%
0	.59 (.00)	0.0	.59 (.00)	0.0	.29 (.00)	0.0
5	.59 (.00)	0.0	.57 (.01)	3.4	.29 (.00)	0.0
10	.59 (.01)	0.0	.56 (.01)	5.1	.29 (.01)	0.0
15	.59 (.01)	0.0	.54 (.01)	8.4	.29 (.01)	0.0
20	.58 (.01)	1.7	.52 (.01)	11.8	.29 (.01)	0.0
25	.58 (.01)	1.7	.51 (.01)	13.5	.29 (.01)	0.0
30	.58 (.01)	1.7	.49 (.01)	16.9	.28 (.01)	3.4
35	.58 (.01)	1.7	.47 (.01)	20.3	.28 (.01)	3.4
40	.57 (.01)	3.3	.45(.01)	23.7	.28 (.01)	3.4
45	.57 (.01)	3.3	.44 (.02)	25.4	.28 (.01)	3.4
50	.56 (.01)	5.1	.42 (.02)	28.8	.27 (.01)	6.9
55	.56 (.02)	5.1	.40 (.02)	32.2	.27 (.01)	6.9
60	.55 (.02)	6.8	.38 (.02)	35.6	.27 (.01)	6.9
65	.55 (.02)	6.8	.37 (.02)	37.3	.26 (.02)	10.3
70	.54 (.02)	8.5	.35 (.02)	40.7	.26 (.02)	10.3
75	.53 (.02)	10.2	.33 (.03)	44.1	.26 (.02)	10.3
80	.52 (.03)	11.9	.31 (.03)	47.5	.25 (.02)	13.8
85	.51 (.03)	13.6	.28 (.03)	52.5	.24 (.03)	17.2
90	.50 (.04)	15.3	.26 (.04)	55.9	.24 (.04)	17.2
95	.48 (.07)	18.6	.24 (.06)	59.3	.23 (.05)	20.7

^aThe asthma Quality Indicator is defined as the proportion of children with asthma filling two or more rescue medications who also filled at least one controller medication during a six-month observation period based on fee-for-service claims.

Source: Maryland Medicaid fee-for-service claims data June 1996 and December 1997.