The research-ready T-MSIS Analytic Files (TAFs) contain data on Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) beneficiary demographics, program enrollment, service use, and payments. In November 2019, CMS made TAF enrollment and claims files* for service years 2014, 2015, and 2016 available to researchers. Since that release, CMS has worked diligently with state Medicaid agencies to identify and rectify data quality issues associated with their Medicaid data submissions. As a result, states have begun re-submitting updated Medicaid data back to 2014. CMS anticipates significant improvements to the overall quality of the data and will be releasing an updated version of the 2014 – 2016 TAF data in late 2020. Researchers who wish to request the 2014–2016 TAF data should consider if they want to request the current version or wait to receive the updated version when it becomes available.
Some key anticipated improvements include:
- New TAF research files for Puerto Rico and Arkansas, both of which were not included in the November 2019 TAF RIF release due to data quality concerns. TAF RIFs will be available for Puerto Rico for service years 2015 and 2016, and for Arkansas for service year 2016.
- The quality of TAF Medicaid and CHIP enrollment data has improved such that the number of states whose enrollment volume differed from a key enrollment benchmark by more than 10% has dropped from 14 to 6. For more information about the rerun 2014-2016 TAF research files, including state-specific information, please contact ResDAC.
*The TAFs currently include 5 files, an enrollment file and four claims files. The annual Demographic and Eligibility (DE) file contains demographic, eligibility and enrollment information for all Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries enrolled for at least one day during each calendar year. The Inpatient (IP) file, Long-Term Care (LT) file, Pharmacy (RX) file, and the Other Services (OT) file contain fee-for-service claims, managed care encounter claims, and per-person-per-month capitated payments for Medicaid and CHIP services, organized by service month.