Recovery - Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) Data Infrastructure Medicaid Analytic eXtract (MAX) Long-Term Care-Assessment (LTC-A) File

The purpose of this contract is to produce person level data files and related information to support Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) that is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). As a component of the ARRA, CMS has been approved by the Department of Health and Human Services to produce and enhance the Medicaid Analytic eXtract file (MAX). Work on the MAX is divided into three contracts. The work in this contract will develop a research file that incorporates key administrative assessment data from the Minimum Data Set (MDS) for nursing facilities, data from the Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) for home health agencies, and selected On-line Survey and Certification Assessment Reporting (OSCAR) data and link it to Medicare and Medicaid administrative data for Medicaid, dual-eligible and private pay patients (MDS beneficiaries only). This file will be known as the Long-Term Care Assessment file (LTC-A). A wide range of beneficiary and provider information will be linked with the MAX system of files and the Medicare Base Summary Files (BASF) from the CMS Chronic Condition Warehouse (CCW). CMS believes that this effort will greatly enhance CER studies pertaining to long-term care and post-acute services by compiling this information in one file. This project will include data for the years 1999-2011. Tasks include the development of a file design report and work plan, a pilot test of the LTC-A data file using data for calendar year 2006. The final LTC-A production could either cover the entire year or subset of the study period given the current level of effort. If it is determined to use a subset of the study period, the contractor will justify the sample years that will be selected for data production. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) provided funds for Comparative Effectiveness Research allocated for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).