CMA Responds to Release of Medicare Part B Payment Data
California Medical Association Responds to Release of Medicare Part B Payment Data
— April 9, 2014
Sacramento — Richard Thorp, MD, president of the California Medical Association (CMA), issued the following statement in response to Medicare Part B payment data released today by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
“CMA joins our partners in organized medicine, including the American Medical Association (AMA), in our commitment to transparency, and, to that end, we support any release of data that will help to improve patient safety and quality of care.
“Our concern with the release of information today is that Medicare claims data is complex, and the broad release of information without proper context can result in inaccurate conclusions and broad misinterpretation.
“The hope is that physicians will be allowed to review and correct information prior to its release and that proper context will be given so as a complete understanding of the information does not mislead those digesting the data.”
Additional Documents:
- CMA Alert Article From April 7, 2014
- Information From CMS
- How Much Does CMS Think You Received From Medicare? (From The New York Times)
- AMA Statement on Medicare Data Release (April 2, 2014)
- AMA Statement on CMS' Medicare Data Release (April 8, 2014)
- AMA Guide to Media Reporting on CMS' Medicare Physician Claims Data
- CMS Fact Sheet: HHS Releases Physician-Level Medicare Data
- Letter From Jonathan Blum, Principal Deputy Administrator, CMS DHHS, to James L. Madera, MD, Executive Vice President and CEO, AMA (April 2, 2014)