Medicare data and measuring provider performance

CMS data experts are working feverishly to comply with Section 10332 of the affordable care act. This requires that by 2012 "Qualified Entities" will be able to access the medicare data. But this has never been done before so new regulations are being written regarding HIPPA compliance, Data use agreements, Business Associate Agreements which allow entities to exchange personal health information, and other important issues. The Center has been working with CMS administrators on these issues and others and they have been listening. In the last six years The Wisconsin Health Information Organization(WHIO) has solved many of the problems CMS is now struggling with. The good news is these officials are engaged and very interested in what we have learned which may allow them to write the regulations in a way that WHIO can receive this data and integrate it with the rest of the nearly 4.2 million residents that already exist in the data base. The following is a summary of what CMS is working to do in section 10332. Section 10332 of the Affordable Care Act