Flow Chart for Identifying AL Communities and Their Medicare Beneficiary Residents
Note:
“Cohort A: 1 address per ZIP+4” = ZIP+4 code cover only one physical address known to be AL. This cohort includes Medicare beneficiaries who are definitely residents of a specific AL community.
“Cohort B: >1 address per ZIP+4” = ZIP+4 code covers more than 1 physical address, with some known to be AL address and others not. This cohort includes Medicare beneficiaries who very likely to be AL residents as well as those who are not.
“Cohort C: ZIP+4 with N addresses <=N beneficiaries” = subset of Cohort B, in which more than one AL shares ZIP+4 codes and the number of Medicare beneficiaries exceeds the number of associated addresses. This cohort includes beneficiaries who very likely reside in ALs, but it is not possible to identify their specific AL of residence.
“Cohort D: ZIP+4 with N addresses > N beneficiaries” = subset of Cohort B, in which the number of addresses exceeds the number of Medicare beneficiaries. For these beneficiaries, it is not possible to distinguish between those who are residents of AL versus their Medicare eligible neighbors.