Report finds flawed Medicare data inhibits analysis of health disparities

Inaccuracies in Medicare's race and ethnicity data have hurt the program’s ability to assess health disparities, a new federal report found (Source: “Flawed Medicare data hampering analysis of health disparities, inspector general says,” Becker’s Payer Issues, June 15).

According to a report from the HHS Office of the Inspector General, Medicare's enrollment data is inconsistent with federal data collection standards, and the inconsistencies "inhibit the work of identifying and improving health disparities within the Medicare population,"

By comparing Medicare data to other federal sources, the report found that Medicare's race and ethnicity data is less accurate for certain groups, particularly for beneficiaries who identified as American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian/Pacific Islander or Hispanic. 

The report includes recommendations that CMS develop its own source of race and ethnicity data, use self-reported race and ethnicity information to improve data for current beneficiaries, develop a process to ensure that the data is as standardized as possible and educate beneficiaries about CMS efforts to improve the race and ethnicity information.