An increased number of skin cancer procedures performed on Medicare beneficiaries was largely the result of this population’s growth over time, according to a recent ecological study of Medicare claims for skin biopsies and skin cancer procedures from 2000 to 2015. Researchers found:

• Biopsies increased 142%, and skin cancer procedures increased 56%.
• Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) utilization increased on the head/neck, hands/feet, and genitalia (increasing from 11% to 27% of all treatment procedures) but was low on the trunk/extremities (increasing from 1% to 4%).
• Adjusted for increased Medicare enrollment (+36%) between 2000 and 2015, the number of biopsies and MMS procedures performed per 1,000 beneficiaries increased (from 56 to 99 and from 5 to 15, respectively), whereas the number of excisions and destructions changed minimally (from 18 to 16 and from 19 to 18, respectively).