Medicaid

A joint federal and state program that helps provide health care coverage for people with low incomes and limited resources.

TAF Research Considerations: Data Quality, Program Variation, and Disenrollment

Date Recorded

This video is one segment in a series of videos from ResDAC’s Introduction to the Use of the Medicaid and CHIP TAF (T-MSIS Analytic File) Data for Research.

In this presentation, Dr. Shippee discusses common issues that come up when using TAF data for research, including (1) how benefit design influences what is observed in the data (2) data quality and data availability, and (3) disenrollment.

Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCAH) - Patient

The Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCAH) initiative, launched in November 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, allows Medicare-certified hospitals to treat patients with inpatient-level care at home. Data contained within the AHCAH data set was collected by CMS directly from individual hospitals on either a weekly or monthly basis depending on their participation tier, which is based on the level of experience the facility has with providing hospital at-home services.

The AHCAH dataset contains two files, a Hospital file and a Patient file, which are both provided for a research request (i.e., cannot be requested separately). The Patient file contains a record for each AHCAH admission for the patient, and includes other beneficiary-specific data such as the beneficiary’s program eligibility status (Medicare, Medicaid, Dual) and the state Medicaid identifier, if applicable. The file also contains the facility submission date for the data represented in the file record. The submission date represents the data submitted by the facility for the previous month.

Each file contains the monthly or weekly submitted data for each participating hospital for the time period from November 2020 through March 2023 (29 months). A second data release is planned for the future at a date to be determined.

What does this file include? (variable highlights)

  • CCW Beneficiary Identifier
  • Beneficiary Program Identifier (Medicare, Medicaid, Dual)
  • Admission Date for In-Home Care Episode
  • Beneficiary State Medicaid Identifier
  • CMS Certifications Number (CCN), also known as the Facility Identifier
  • Facility Waiver Participation Tier (based on the level of experience the facility has with providing hospital at-home services)
  • Facility Waiver Submission Identifier
  • Data Submission Date
  • Facility Location Information

Special Considerations

  • AHCAH data may need to be requested in conjunction with Part A claims data to fully understand the information in the AHCAH dataset.
  • Questions about the data should be directed to ResDAC at resdac@umn.edu.

TAF Demographic and Eligibility File

The Medicaid and CHIP TAF (T-MSIS Analytic File) Demographic and Eligibility (DE) file contains one record for every individual eligible for and enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP for at least one day during the file calendar year.

What does this file include? (variable highlights)

  • Eligibility dates
  • Managed care enrollment
  • Waiver enrollment
  • Money Follows the Person program enrollment
  • Health Home information, including State Plan Option participants, chronic Home Health condition
  • Long-Term Services and Supports eligiblity
  • Conception-to-Birth Option eligibility
  • Disability information
  • Government Assistance program participation
  • Third Party Liability coverage

Special considerations

  • ResDAC provides resources on Medicaid TAF data quality.
  • A bridge file will be provided to assist researchers that are conducting longitudinal analysis involving 2020 TAF research files along with earlier service years. For additional information, please see the CCW T-MSIS Analytic Files (TAF) User Guide posted on CCW’s User Documentation page.

Project Design and Data Request Process

Date Recorded

This video is one segment in a series of videos from ResDAC’s Introduction to the Use of the Medicaid and CHIP TAF (T-MSIS Analytic File) Data for Research.

Topics include:

  • Considerations before submitting a request for TAF RIF (T-MSIS Analytic File, Research Identifiable Files)
  • Cohort selection options and considerations
  • RIF request process and timeline

Application to Research Studies

Date Recorded

This video is one segment in a series of videos from ResDAC’s Introduction to the Use of the Medicaid and CHIP TAF (T-MSIS Analytic File) Data for Research.

This presentation contains a discussion of Dr. Shippee’s work using Medicaid data with an emphasis on approaches to Medicaid data challenges.

Medicare-Medicaid Linked Enrollee Analytic Data Source (MMLEADS) 3.0

The Medicare-Medicaid Linked Enrollee Analytic Data Source (MMLEADS) 3.0 suite of files combines Medicare and Medicaid enrollment and claims data into two annual beneficiary-level files. The files include beneficiaries who are Medicare-only, Medicare-Medicaid dually enrolled and Medicaid-only blind and disabled.

What is different about MMLEADS 3.0?

MMLEADS now consists of two files—a beneficiary summary file and single cost (i.e., payments) and use (i.e., claim counts) file that combines Medicare and Medicaid information. CCW Chronic Condition and other condition flags are no longer provided.

Source data

Medicare: FFS, PDE and MA

Medicaid: T-MSIS data

What does this file include? (variable highlights)

  • Eligibility, enrollment variables
  • Aggregated claim counts and payment amounts
    • Medicare: FFS, PDE includes FFS and MA
    • Medicaid: FFS, managed care encounter where available
  • Both files are released for approved MMLEADS data requests
    • Beneficiary file
    • Medicare and Medicaid cost and use file

Special considerations

External resource of detailed information on MMLEADS files and structure: CCW MMLEADS User Guide