Resources

The APCD Council does not collect state claims data. Each state that allows for public release of their claims data has their own data release policy and process. Many states are currently releasing data to qualified users and some states have public use files that are released more freely. Please visit our Data Request page or contact each state directly to find out more information about accessing a state's claims data. Each state contact can be found on our website.

APCDs are large-scale databases that systematically collect health care claims data from a variety of payer sources which include claims from most health care providers.

Our website's Interactive State Report Map provides information about APCDs across the U.S. By simply selecting a state, you can find information related to that state’s APCD system.

Conduct an inventory of the insurance market, access data, add and evaluate public payers, develop submission rules, manage data, and validate data. An extensive look at developing an APCD system is outlined in the APCD Council Development Manual.

The length of implementation (from time legislation with rules is passed onwards) can be a 6 – 12 month process. Release rules conversation takes the longest, so it’s advised to have that conversation early on in the development process.

No, but the APCD Council and the National Association of Health Data Organizations are available to respond to questions, direct inquiries to appropriate subject-matter experts, advocate on behalf of state legislative and other efforts, and more. Please email info@NAHDO.org

The APCD Council does not collect state claims data. Each state that allows for public release of their claims data has their own data release policy and process. Please contact each state point of contact to find out more information about accessing a state's claims data.

The agency responsible for the APCD (e.g. Insurance Department, Health Department) is ultimately responsible for oversight of report production and controlling access to the APCD data according to well-defined data release policies and procedures. These policies and procedures protect privacy and prevent unauthorized usage. Agency staff will assure compliance to data access policies and interact with vendors and others to assure the website and reports are also in compliance. Typically, there is a multi-stakeholder committee managing data release requests.

States with data releases processes are detailed on our State Data Access page.

Please review the APCD Council Attribution Policy before including APCD Council information in presentations, etc. Thank you!

Public APCDs are typically funded by one or more of the following sources:

• General appropriations (e.g. New Hampshire)
• Fee assessments on public and private payers (health plans) and facilities (e.g. Vermont)
• Medicaid match (e.g. Utah)
• Data sales (e.g. Maine).

Other state APCDs also get additional support from foundations (e.g. Colorado) and one state is using federal Beacon Community Cooperative Agreement Program funds (e.g. Rhode Island). Private, voluntary reporting initiatives generally rely on membership dues for core funding (e.g. Wisconsin).

Costs of report development can vary widely, depending on the type of report. Agencies with laws and policies that permit the release of standard de-identified and research APCD analytic files can generate revenues from the sales of these products, with the appropriate release agreements and research review approvals. These revenues provide a partial return on investment to offset data collection and preparation of the analytic files. Production of public reports typically are a cost to the agency and often are required as part of their core funding. These reports inform policies and yield a different kind of return on investment in terms of dollars saved and system improvements.

The data provided by APCD can be essentially used in many aspects of rate setting as well as Patient-Centered Medical Homes (PCMH). PCMH is a program for organizing and improving primary care. Also, the data can be used for trending analysis and providing those who seek certain information with the answers they need. To find out more how people are using claims data, please visit the APCD Council's APCD Showcase.

To be added to the APCD Council vendor list, a vendor organizations must demonstrate that they have either responded to RFIs or RFPs related to providing all-payer claims database services to states or have ever provided APCD-related services to states.