Maine APCD 2013Q Release Notes BACKFILL DATA ------------- The regularly scheduled release of Maine APCD data will also include data from Anthem Health Plans of Maine for 2013Q1 and 2013Q2, which had not been available previously. Anthem had been given an extension in their data filing compliance to allow for the completion of a system conversion. Anthem has completed that conversion, and is now current with data through 2013Q3. In addition to the inclusion of the historic Anthem data, the 2013Q3 release also includes 2013Q1 and 2013Q2 data for a new submitter, T0478 - United Healthcare Services. ENCRYPTED FIELDS ---------------- The length of encrypted fields in the Maine APCD has been an issue for some time. The encrypted Claim ID, Member SSN, Subscriber SSN, Contract ID and Member ID values that have been used to date are character strings up to 279 characters in length. These encrypted fields account for over half of the physical size of the release data, and are not particularly effective in terms of analysis. There was a change in the encryption method a few years ago, which made linking records for claims or members from before the change to records after the change difficult, if not impossible. Although crosswalk tables were released for Conract ID and SSN values, no crosswalk for Member ID was ever produced. Effective with this release, those long values have been replaced with integers. Using the existing crosswalks, the MHDO matched as many Member ID values as possible, as well as Contract, SSN and Claim ID values, in order to link the old encrypted version of each to its current 270+ character version. The result is that the integer values that have replaced the long versions also can be linked back to previously sent encrypted values, across the change in encryption methods. Crosswalk tables to link these new integer release values to the previously used values will be available for download as part of the 2013Q3 release. Additional detail about the crosswalk tables will be included with the release of those tables. Alternatively, if users of the data wish to receive a complete reload of previously released data in addition to the new quarter's data, so that all data includes the new integer replacements to the encrypted values and the crosswalk tables are not needed, we can accomodate that need as well. Please contact the MHDO directly if this option is preferable. MISSING DATA ------------ Medicare data is current through 2011. It is expected that the 2012 Medicare data will be included in the next (2013Q4) release this Spring. The following commercial submitters either did not submit data for 2013Q3 in time for it to be included in the current release, or else submitted data that was rejected due to data quality issues. It is estimated that the missing data represented by these submitters accounts for less than 5% of the anticipated total. Code Type Name T0201 Dental UltraBenefits Inc C0478 Dental Companion Life Insurance Company C0269 Dental Metropolitan Life Insurance Company T0164 Dental Patient Advocates LLC C0125 Dental Connecticut General Life Insurance Company C0532 Dental Securian Life Insurance Company T0052 Dental CoreSource Inc C0042 Medical American Heritage Life Insurance Company T0201 Medical UltraBenefits Inc T0199 Medical Tufts Benefit Administrators Inc C0509 Medical Health Care Service Corporation C0511 Medical Harvard Pilgrim Insurance Company T0164 Medical Patient Advocates LLC C0125 Medical Connecticut General Life Insurance Company C0364 Medical Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company G0002 Medical Medicare T0052 Medical CoreSource Inc T0074 Medical First American Administrators Inc T0422 Medical Comprehensive Benefits Administrator Inc T0423 Medical EBPA Benefits, LLC T0199 Pharmacy Tufts Benefit Administrators Inc T0423 Pharmacy EBPA Benefits, LLC C0264 Pharmacy Medco Containment Life Insurance Company T0292 Pharmacy Medco Health LLC C0125 Pharmacy Connecticut General Life Insurance Company