Background: Due to new lung cancer CT-screening guidelines and the aging American population, the use of curative treatment for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) will increase among older adults. Yet little is known about the treatment burden to the patient and Medicare system in terms of healthcare system encounters and number of providers seen. Methods: We used the SEER-Medicare database to study Medicare fee-for-service patients aged 67-94 years who were diagnosed with stage I NSCLC from 2007 through 2009 and received curative treatment with either sublobar resection, lobectomy, or stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). We examined healthcare utilization in the 30 days before through 12 months after treatment initiation, determining the total number of days in contact with the healthcare system as well as the number of unique physicians seen. We described care received in the acute, outpatient, post-acute, home care, and hospice settings. Results: Of the 4,214 patients, 90.9% received surgery and 9.1% SBRT. During the first 100 days post-treatment, an average of 1 in 4 days was spent in contact with the healthcare system (mean: 25 encounter-days excluding home health visits). Among patients who survived the entire 13-month follow-up period, there was an average of 50 days with at least one encounter. Approximately 3% of patients had ≥ 10 acute care encounter-days, while 97.7% had ≥ 10 outpatient encounter-days and 23.5% had ≥ 10 homecare encounter-days. The median number of physicians seen was 22 (interquartile range 16-31). Conclusions: The burden of receiving healthcare for older patients with NSCLC is substantial in terms of frequency of encounters and number of providers seen. Interventions are needed to improve patient-centered, streamlined cancer care.