Medicare maintains a truly massive database in which the government keeps records of what it pays for medical care for close to 50 million beneficiaries. The computerized record is deemed to be an essential and fundamental source for relevant information pertaining to the country's health care system.
Until now, that information has been closely guarded and largely off limits to all but academic researcher in limited instances. The American Medical Association has long held that wide dissemination of physician-related data could sometimes lead to the reporting of inaccurate information relating to medical malpractice and doctors' performance reports.
Dow Jones & Co., the parent of the Wall Street Journal, filed a lawsuit recently to overturn a 30-year-old injunction barring the release of physician information to the general public. Dow Jones argued that keeping the information under wraps undermined the public's ability to make well-informed health-care decisions.
It turns out that, after 30 years, the Department of Health and Human Services now agrees with that view and states that it will ease restrictions on releasing information from the database.
The government has designated a new category of entities that will now be able to request and receive data. They include health insurers, businesses, consumers and government workers involved at improving health care in their local communities.
"This is a great step forward in making our health care system more transparent," says Medicare's acting administrator, Marilyn Tavenner.
Tavenner adds that the enhanced access will help consumers "receive the highest quality care at the best value for their dollar."
Source: Wall Street Journal, "Access to widen on Medicare data" John Carreyrou, Dec. 8, 2011
