OBJECTIVES: To investigate the health care cost burden and demographic distribution of patients diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis (PSA) in the Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) Dataset. METHODS: A retrospective database analysis was performed using the 100% Medicare FFS Datasets from October 1, 2008 through December 31, 2012. Patients diagnosed with PSA were identified using International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) diagnosis code 696.0, and the index date was the date of the initial diagnosis. All patients were required to have continuous medical and pharmacy benefits 1-year pre- and post-index date. Health care costs and utilization during the baseline (1 year before the diagnosis date) and follow-up (1 year after the diagnosis date) periods were calculated. RESULTS: Using the aforementioned criteria, 11,324 PSA patients were identified. The average age at diagnosis was 74 years, 66.10% of patients were women and almost 92.36% were white. The majority of patients resided in the South U.S. region (39.01%). Diabetes (33.84%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (29.04%) and cerebrovascular disease (17.36%) were the main comorbidities observed during the baseline period. During the follow-up period, 62.96% of patients had inpatient admissions, 47.29% had emergency room visits, 91.67% had outpatient office visits, 91.67% had outpatient visits and 58.03% had pharmacy visits, costing, on average, $23,960, $237, $5,015, $5,252 and $7,335, respectively. The average total cost of PSA patients was $36,548. The five most commonly prescribed medications for PSA were methotrexate sodium (4.54%), prednisone (3.37%), levothyroxine sodium (2.59%), hydrocodone bit/acetaminophen (2.43%) and simvastatin (2.11%). CONCLUSIONS: PSA patient demographic and health care cost information was obtained and the most commonly prescribed PSA medications were identified.