Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Data Linkages

National Cancer Institute, Frederick MD

Investigators

Abstract

NIH/NCI agrees to pay data processing fees for data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS and the NIH/NCI exchange data under a cooperative research project to support and enhance each agency’s mission via a two phase process. The terms, conditions, safeguards, and procedures under which CMS and NIH/NCI conduct this cooperative research project are outlined in CMS IEA No. 2018-40. Briefly, this IAA is related to the first phase of the data exchange, whereby NIH/NCI receives Medicare and Medicaid enrollment and utilization (claims and encounter) data for persons in the NIH/NCI Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) cancer registry who are also found in the CMS data. NIH/NCI then takes the data provided by CMS and merges it with the cancer registry data to create the SEER-CMS datasets: SEER-Medicare, SEER-Medicaid, SEER-Medicare Health Outcomes Survey (SEER-MHOS), and SEER-Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (SEER-CAHPS). The SEER-CMS datasets are maintained under the NIH/NCI System of Record No. 09-25-0200. Thereby, NIH/NCI oversees the release of data from the SEER-CMS datasets through formal application processes that require requestors to submit research specific study proposals, which must include justification for the requested data and a data storage and protection plan, a NIH/NCI Data Use Agreement, and documentation of an Institutional Review Board assessment. The analyses of the SEER-CMS data allows for insights into cancer care delivery and outcomes across the cancer continuum from screening to end-of-life for a growing proportion of the United States population. CMS will provide NIH/NCI with the requested data from the CCW for this fifth year of the five year IA19-170 agreement, as specified in the attached CCW Cost Invoice.