November 21, 2012
On November 21, 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the first three participants in a program designed to help consumers get more information regarding their local doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers. The Medicare Data Sharing for Performance Measurement program, made possible by the health care law, makes Medicare claims data available, under strict privacy requirements, to groups that HHS certifies as qualified to handle this data and protect patient privacy. These groups will combine Medicare and private insurance data to create comprehensive, useful reports on provider performance.