The National Association of Health Data Organizations (NAHDO) proposes activities directed toward convening a national research development and agenda setting conference to advance public reporting from statewide All-Payer Claims Databases (APCDs). The target audience for this project is state health data officials responsible for APCD planning and management activities in their state. State APCD challenges include the fact that state policymakers have expectations that APCDs will support consumer cost and quality information and also support health reform and transparency initiatives. Yet, today, APCDs are a new and complex dataset in which public reporting uses and applications are at early stages of development. NAHDO proposes to implement conference-related activities in two project phases: Phase 1, the Research Development stage, to establish the groundwork for a national conference by identifying existing reporting practices and propose an APCD reporting guidance for states and Phase 2, Dissemination and Agenda Setting, consisting of an interactive national conference geared to the dissemination of research findings to key state APCD officials and APCD stakeholders in New Orleans, Louisiana on October 25, 2012, themed """"""""Laying the Groundwork for Consumer Reporting on Cost and Quality: Putting APCD Systems to Work"""""""". The products of the research and the conference will support APCD strategic planning in states and will eliminate duplicative research and planning efforts now occurring individually in many states
To transform their health care delivery systems and improve health care cost and quality, states will need comprehensive information on health care use and costs. As more states implement All-Payer Claims Data Bases (APCDs), the need for uniform reporting specifications increases, yet to date most efforts have been isolated reporting initiatives. This project will lay the groundwork for public reporting on cost and quality information from APCDs by establishing a baseline of APCD reporting practices, identifying gaps in information, and developing guidance documents to facilitate the public reporting of APCD information in states.
