BPC Comments to Chairman Ron Wyden and Senator Chuck Grassley on Improving Accessibility and Utility of Health Care Data

“On behalf of the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), thank you for the opportunity to provide comments on improving the accessibility and utility of health care data, while maintaining and protecting patient privacy. We commend your extensive work in this area, including introduction of the Medicare Data Access for Transparency and Accountability (DATA) Act (S. 1180 / H.R. 2843) and provisions in the bipartisan, tri-committee SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act of 2014 aimed at advancing interoperability using incentives and/or penalties to drive results within an established timeline.

“BPC’s Health Innovation Initiative has conducted considerable research in this area, convened leaders from government and across every sector of health care, hosted public events, released numerous reports, briefed congressional staff and administration leaders, and testified before Congress on these issues. BPC’s Health Project is further examining key questions around quality measures and cost/pricing data transparency through a new initiative on delivery system reform that builds on its Health Care Cost Containment Initiative.”