On November 21, 2012, CMS announced that it is entering into contracts with three organizations to implement the ACA’s Medicare Data Sharing for Performance Measurement provision. The provision requires CMS to make available to “qualified entities” standardized extracts of Medicare claims data under Parts A, B, and D for purposes of evaluating provider and supplier performance. The entities must combine Medicare data with claims data from other sources to generate and make publicly available reports on individual providers and suppliers. The public reports must be made in an “aggregate form” – defined by CMS as the provider of services or supplier level, but no individual beneficiary data will be shared under this program. Contracting entities must comply with a series of requirements, including stringent data security and privacy protection standards. The reports must be made available confidentially to any identified provider or supplier prior to public release. According to CMS, access to the new provider performance reports will enable employers and consumer organizations to “identify and reward high quality health care providers in their local areas and develop online tools to help consumers and their families make health care choices informed by this useful data.” The initial organizations participating in the initiative are: the Health Improvement Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati, Kansas City Quality Improvement Consortium (serving the Greater Kansas City area in Missouri and Kansas), and the Oregon Health Care Quality Corporation.
