The Department of Healthcare Access and Information (HCAI) June Healthcare Payments Data (HPD) Quarterly Newsletter is designed to keep stakeholders informed on programmatic updates including information about HPD public reporting, the upcoming Advisory Committee and Submitter Group Meetings, relevant federal updates impacting All Payer Claims Databases (APCD), and HPD careers.
HPD Programmatic Updates
HPD First Public Report Released:
The HPD program has released its first public report! The HPD Snapshot is an overview of the data currently available for the HPD program. The HPD Snapshot provides a wealth of information about what data is available in the HPD System, including the number of Californians represented, types of health care coverage, and most common procedures and prescription drugs. The visualization includes data from the reporting period of 2018 to 2021. This is just the start – in coming months HCAI plans to release of additional visualizations through the HPD public reporting program. Please visit the HPD Public Reporting webpage to view the HPD Snapshot.
Reaching this important milestone has required the participation and contribution of many important HCAI partners and stakeholders – including California health plan and insurer data submitters. Thank you for your support!
HPD Funding Report:
In 2018, the California Legislature provided $60 million in one-time funding to establish the HPD Program. The HPD statute requires HCAI to submit a report to the Legislature on recommendations for long-term funding options for the program. On February 28, 2023, HCAI submitted the required report to the Legislature, outlining the HPD Program’s In 2018, the California Legislature provided $60 million in one-time funding to establish the HPD Program. The HPD statute requires HCAI to submit a report to the Legislature on recommendations for long-term funding options for the program. On February 28, 2023, HCAI submitted the required report to the Legislature, outlining the HPD Program’s accomplishments to-date, a plan for future spending, and recommendations on long-term program funding options. Read the funding options report.
Dental Plan Data Collection Informational Meeting:
HCAI will begin to collect dental plan information in 2024. In preparation, HCAI will hold an informational meeting for dental plans on July 20, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. (PDT). Register for the informational meeting. HCAI will also offer individual meetings with dental plans as needed.
HPD System Data Collection:
The HPD program is continuing to process ongoing monthly data file submissions from health plans and insurers and requesting data submitters to submit earlier in the month when possible. HCAI greatly appreciates the efforts of all data submitters in their timely submissions and those that have adjusted their submission schedules accordingly to meet HCAI’s request.
HCAI will be conducting ongoing and regular evaluation of data quality and completeness to support both public reporting and the release of non-public data. HCAI will submit a report to the Legislature on the quality and completeness of the data by March 1, 2024, which will include an assessment of the data that has been submitted and the percentage of the California population that is represented in the database.
Data Release Regulations and Certification of HPD Data Collection Emergency Regulations:
HCAI is preparing two regulation packages for the HPD program. The first is for the HPD data release program. The public comment period for the data release regulations will close on July 18, 2023. Please refer to HCAI’s Laws & Regulation webpage to review the rulemaking documents. The second is to certify HPD’s emergency regulations for data collection which took effect on December 20, 2021. The certification regulation is expected to be released for public comment in July/August 2023.
Participation in National Workgroups:
HCAI and the HPD Program continue to participate in the APCD Council’s All-Payer Claims Database Common Data Layout (APCD-CDL™) Data Maintenance Request (DMR) workgroup. The APCD-CDL™ version 3.0.1 was released on April 1, 2023 and is available for request at the APCD Council website. The APCD-CDL™ version 2.1 will continue to be the file format used for HPD’s data collection through 2023. HCAI will update HPD regulations to include the use of APCD-CDLTM version 3.0.1 and will provide instructions on the transition after the regulations are approved. HCAI and the HPD Program also continue to participate in the Non-Claims-Based Payments workgroup, to develop a national standard for collecting non-claims-based data.
HPD Submitter Group
Save the Date for HPD’s July Submitter Group Meeting:
The third quarter meeting of the HPD Submitter Group will be held on July 13, 2023. Please use this link to register for the HPD Submitter Group and to have the meeting added to your calendar. The agenda and instructions to register will also be posted to the HPD Program Submitters website.
April Submitter Group Review:
The second meeting of the year was held April 13, 2023, with the focus on production file submission status, proposed regulation updates, and APCD-CDL™ updates from version 2.1 to version 3.0.1.
To review the meeting, here is a link to the agenda and slide deck.
We received a few questions during the meeting. Below are the questions and answers:
Is there any testing required of the updated CDL?
- Testing of the updated All-Payer Claims Database- Common Data Layout (CDL) is at the discretion of existing submitters, however, the HPD program would expect submitters to perform some verification testing of their updates prior to submission of production data. During the initial program opening for Dental Plans, testing will be required.
When will the updated Data Submission Guide be published and when will a decision on the CDL Errata be made?
- The updated Data Submission Guide (DSG) will be available in draft form during the summer of 2023, and is anticipated to become final with the regulations update later in the year.
- The CDL 3.0.1 errata version has been published and available by request from the APCD Council website. It is the expectation of HPD program that this will be the version used in our updated regulation and in the HPD system update.
- HPD proposes continuing to use CDL version 2.1 errata as the data standard for data file submission and resubmission on or before February 16, 2024. At the time of the submitter group meeting on April 13, 2023, HPD referenced CDL 3.0, however we are aware of a release of a CDL 3.0.1 errata. HPD intends to transition to use the errata version for data file submission and resubmission on and after February 17, 2024.
In the presentation materials from the April Submitter Group meeting, slide 16 states that the Data Submission Guide was revised on November 20, 2023. Is that an upcoming revision? Or was the last revision 2022?
- The current Data Submission Guide, Version 1.0, dated November 23, 2021, is still in effect. The HPD program anticipates a draft version of the updated Data Submission Guide will be made available in the summer of 2023 and will become final as part of the emergency regulation certification of compliance process.
Please contact hpd@hcai.ca.gov at any time there are questions. We are happy to help!
HPD Advisory Committee
HCAI is required to convene an HPD Program Advisory Committee comprised of health care stakeholders and experts to assist and advise the HCAI Director in formulating program policies regarding data collection, management, use, access, and development of public information to meet the goals of the HPD Program.
Past Meeting:
HCAI hosted the April Advisory Committee on April 27, 2023. The meeting provided a high-level overview of proposed standard limited datasets to be initially produced by the HPD and an update on the Data Release Committee’s (DRC) activity, membership, and interactions with the HPD Advisory Committee. Meeting materials can be found here.
Upcoming Meeting:
HCAI is hosting the upcoming HPD Advisory Committee Meeting on July 27, 2023. The meeting will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (PDT). The July HPD Meeting will be held in person at HCAI’s Sacramento Headquarters. Members of the public can attend in person or via Microsoft Teams. The July meeting will focus on the HPD System reaching a key milestone of launching the first public reports including walkthrough of the initial public reports and discussion of data quality and completeness.
The agenda and all other meeting materials will be posted on the HPD Advisory Committee website prior to the meeting.
HPD Data Release Committee
HCAI is required to convene an HPD Data Release Committee (DRC) to support the implementation and administration of the HPD Program. The DRC is an integral part of the HPD Program, advising HCAI on the access and release of non-public HPD data.
Past Meetings:
HCAI hosted DRC meetings on May 2 and June 6, 2023. The May meeting focused on exploring the potential use cases for HPD data products and the various roles in the data release process. The June meeting focused on overviews of the HPD data request application, review process, data use agreements and a more in depth look at the standard limited datasets.
All past DRC meeting materials can be found here.
Upcoming:
HCAI is hosting the next DRC Meeting on September 5, 2023, which will focus on data quality and completeness and the HPD approach to linkages.
The September DRC Meeting will be held in person but allow members of the public to attend in person or via Microsoft Teams. More information on how to attend in person will be shared closer to the meeting.
The agenda and all other meeting materials will be posted on the HPD Data Release Committee website prior to the meeting.
Are you interested in joining the HPD Team?
Click below to watch for job opportunities coming soon to support the HPD Program:
Watch Our Video About How the HPD Program Collects and Reports Data
To find out more please visit HCAI’s HPD Webpage or email hpd@hcai.ca.gov. If this newsletter was forwarded to you, and you would like to receive future ones please subscribe to “Healthcare Payments Database News” here.