OBJECTIVES: To determine the demographic distribution and health care burden of patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) using Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) data. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed using the 100% Medicare FFS datasets from October 1, 2008 through December 31, 2012. Patients diagnosed with RA were identified using International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification diagnosis code 714, and the first diagnosis date was designated as the index date. All patients were required to have continuous medical and pharmacy benefits 1 year pre- (baseline period) and post-index date (follow-up period). Health care resource utilization and costs during the baseline and follow-up periods were calculated. RESULTS: Using Medicare FFS data, 112,550 RA patients were identified. The average age at diagnosis was 76 years, and 72.54% of patients were women and 83.94% were white. The most common baseline comorbidities were diabetes (35.48%), followed by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (30.83%) and cerebrovascular disease (21.50%). During the follow-up period, 66.35% of patients had inpatient admissions, 49.01% had emergency room visits, 87.93% had outpatient office visits, 87.93% had outpatient visits and 61.67% had pharmacy visits and costs were, on average, $26,510, $256, $4,204, $4,460 and $6,249, respectively. The average total costs incurred by RA patients were $37,219. The five most commonly-prescribed medications prescribed to treat RA were prednisone (3.40%), levothyroxine sodium (2.63%), hydrocodone bit/acetaminophen (2.39%), furosemide (2.13%) and omeprazole (2.13%). CONCLUSIONS: RA patient demographic distributions and RA-related health care cost information was obtained and the most commonly prescribed medications to treat RA were identified.