Court ruling: HHS must release Medicare physician data

In a decision that could have a large impact on physicians and patients around the country, a federal court has ruled that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must release Medicare physician claims data for Illinois, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Washington state. Consumers' CHECKBOOK/Center for the Study of Services, a nonprofit consumer organization, filed the lawsuit to gain access to the data, which could "help the public evaluate Medicare and physician performance" (Source: "Court Gives Group Access To Medicare Claims Data," Wall Street Journal, Aug. 25, 2007). The Los Angeles Times reported that the ruling could potentially transform "the relationship between doctors and patients, as well as the business of healthcare."

According the Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, "The group plans to post the data, which HHS must release by Sept. 21, online for public use. Researchers could analyze the data to determine the number of times physicians perform certain procedures and to compare the mortality rates among patients of certain physicians, and health plans could use the data to improve their analyses of physician quality" While Ohio data is not including in the ruling, Consumers' CHECKBOOK has requested the data for all other states. It is not known if HHS will appeal the ruling.