Availability of Medicare Databases Creates Dispute
A number of organizations have partnered together to advocate for the public release of Medicare billing records. Groups requesting that such be shared publicly include the health insurance industry, consumer groups, and employers. Consumers’ Checkbook sued the U.S. government to procure data describing physicians in four states and Washington, D.C. The L.A. Times included an article with an update about the status of the Medicare information.
The disclosure of data from the Medicare claims database would provide access to information on over 40 million patients and 700,000 physicians. This is the largest healthcare database in the country. The initial ruling was previously described on HospitalBuyer.
The initial ruling called for release of the data, noting potential benefits for the general public. At that time, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) endorsed the intentions cited by Consumers’ Checkbook to obtain the data. However, HHS did request a clarification of the ruling by a higher court.
The Bush administration has appealed the recent ruling and was joined in the appeal by the American Medical Association (AMA). Both groups call for the initial ruling to be overturned and maintain the privacy standards attached to this data. The AMA suggests that information procured may not be appropriate for interpretation because it does not account for the degree of illness among different patients.
Representatives from Consumers’ Checkbook suggest that opposing the ruling is inconsistent with previous statements by the President and HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt to encourage transparency. Without access to this information, patients can only use their clinicians as a source of information about quality.
April 25, 2008 Related topics: Legal & legislative, Trends