CMS: Final rule allows selling of claims data

Editor's Note

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on July 1 released a final rule that allows certain CMS-approved organizations, including for-profit companies and government entities, to buy Medicare claims and other federal data at a price matching the governments’ cost of processing the data, Modern Healthcare reports.

CMS says the program is part of an effort by the Obama administration to increase quality and improve cost-efficiency.

The San Diego-based World Privacy Forum says it is concerned about the rule’s potential to allow third parties to use data for sales, marketing, and non-healthcare purposes, rather than quality improvement. Allowing the CMS database to be held by more organizations increases the likelihood of hackers selling data on the black market, they say.

Data mining of patient medical records kept by the federal government will get a boost by the CMS, following the release of finalized changes to the so-called Qualified Entity Program. The final rule released Friday authorizes certain CMS-approved organizations - including for-profit companies - to buy Medicare claims and other federal data at a price that matches the governments' cost in processing the data.