July 11, 2008

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule to permit Medicare Part D claims data to be used for programmatic monitoring, research, public health, care coordination, quality improvement, population of personal health records, and other purposes. Under the final rule, external researchers have access to the "minimum necessary data for research purposes subject to additional protections such as the encryption of beneficiary, prescriber, and pharmacy identifiers unless needed to link to another data set. In addition, external entities will not have access to plan identifiers or disaggregated drug cost data that breaks out drug ingredient cost or dispensing fees."

• Audio recording of CMS's "Open Door Forum" on how and when to access Medicare Part D data is available on CMS's Web site.
• Copy of a CMS's slide presentation for a forum at AcademyHealth's Research Meeting is available on AcademyHealth's Web site.

CMS recommends that you also visit the Research Data Assistance Center (ResDAC) Web site  which provides information about the available data, training workshops, data dictionaries, and privacy rules. In the coming months, ResDAC will add a Part D link, which will include sample data request letters and estimates of data costs to help you in preparing requests.

Questions or comments about the rule? Please e-mail: PtDData@cms.hhs.gov. You can also contact ResDAC directly at resdac@umn.edu or 1.888.9.RESDAC.

The Coalition for Health Services Research will continue to monitor and assess issues researchers encounter in using these and other data in their research. Please contact coalition@academyhealth.org, with questions or concerns.

AcademyHealth submitted comments on the proposed rule, and wrote a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) urging the release of the final rule. These documents can be accessed at:

• Comments to CMS
• Letter to OMB

Questions? Questions? Email us at coalition@academyhealth.org.