Aug 3 -- The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid has released a new public online Medicaid data tool -- the Data Quality (DQ) Atlas.
https://www.medicaid.gov/dq-atlas/welcome
The DQ Atlas is an interactive, web-based tool that helps policymakers, analysts, researchers, and other stakeholders explore the quality and usability of the Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) Analytic Files (TAF) to determine whether the data can meet their analytic needs. These needs include the ability to conduct insightful, methodologically sound analyses of key Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) topics such as enrollment, claims, expenditures, and service use.
The Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) is the most comprehensive national data set on beneficiaries, providers, service utilization, managed care, expenditures, and third-party liability for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). States report their T-MSIS data to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) each month.
The size, complexity, and frequency of updates to the T-MSIS data make it very challenging to use T-MSIS for analytic purposes. CMS created the T-MSIS Analytic Files (TAF) to support analysis, research and data-driven decisions on key dimensions of Medicaid and CHIP. These files include data on enrollment, demographics, service utilization, and payments in Medicaid and CHIP.
The charts, maps, and tables in DQ Atlas show the DQ Assessments and associated measures for each state on topics that are pertinent to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. For each state, the DQ Assessment assigns one of six values to indicate the extent to which a state’s TAF data are usable, reliable, and accurate for analyzing a particular topic. You can use these values to begin evaluating whether the TAF meet your analytic needs.
Users can download DQ Snapshots, which summarize all the DQ Assessments for all states and topics. There are two types of DQ Snapshots: the DQ Topics Snapshot and the DQ State Snapshot. The DQ Topics Snapshots, available in Explore by Topic displays, are organized by topic area and include DQ Assessments for all topics and states for a given year. The DQ State Snapshots, available in Explore by State displays, show all DQ Assessments for a given state and year.
