Data Analytics | Medicaid

For many states, a critical barrier to achieving Medicaid delivery system reform is data analytic capacity. Within the functional area of data analytics, the Medicaid Innovation Accelerator Program (IAP) offered targeted technical assistance and solutions to Medicaid agencies in building and strengthening their data analytic capacity as they design and implement delivery system reforms. Below is information about the technical assistance, as well as many data analytics resources for states such as Medicare-Medicaid data integration use cases, tools for building data dashboards with effective visualizations, resources to improve data quality, and examples of analysis addressing specific topics.

Data Analytics Technical Assistance

To assist Medicaid agencies in moving towards their Medicaid delivery system reform goals, IAP offered targeted technical assistance to states around a variety of data analytic activities:

Designing an analytic strategy
Improving programmatic decision-making
Building and executing statistical models
Planning and implementing non-Medicare data integration
Developing transfer protocols for sharing data

IAP provided data analytics technical assistance to Medicaid agencies in Alabama, Guam, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Pennsylvania, Washington, and West Virginia from April 2017 through April 2018. Additional information about the technical assistance provided can be found in the Medicaid IAP 2017 Data Analytics Factsheet.

IAP provided data analytics technical assistance to Medicaid agencies in CNMI, Colorado, Guam, Hawaii, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, and South Dakota from May 2018 through May 2019. Additional information about the technical assistance provided can be found in the Medicaid IAP 2018 Data Analytics Factsheet.

IAP provided data analytics technical assistance to Medicaid agencies in Georgia, Oklahoma, Virgin Islands, Virginia, and West Virginia from April 2019 through September 2019. Additional information about the technical assistance provided can be found in the Medicaid IAP 2019 Data Analytics Factsheet.

IAP provided data analytics technical assistance to Medicaid agencies in Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Guam and CNMI, Virginia, and West Virginia from March 2020 through September 2020. Additional information about the technical assistance provided can be found in the Medicaid IAP 2020 Data Analytics Factsheet.

Strengthening Partnerships While Developing Data Analytic Capacity to Support Reduction of Maternal Mortality and Severe Maternal Morbidity in Medicaid Technical Assistance

As part of IAP’s efforts to build data analytic capacity for delivery system reforms, IAP offered technical assistance to Medicaid agencies to support their efforts to reduce maternal mortality (MM) and severe maternal morbidity (SMM). The goals of this technical assistance were to assist Medicaid agencies with establishing and strengthening partnerships with key stakeholders to identify common needs, resources, and goals related to MM and SMM, and develop data analytic capacity to better understand MM and SMM among Medicaid beneficiaries.

IAP provided technical assistance to Medicaid agencies from Delaware, Kentucky, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming from March 2020 through September 2020. Additional information about the technical assistance provided can be found in the Medicaid IAP MM/SMM Data Analytics Factsheet.

Medicare-Medicaid Data Integration (MMDI) Technical Assistance

From October 2015 through March 2019, IAP provided technical assistance to Medicaid agencies in Alabama, the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and New Jersey to address the challenge of acquiring and successfully integrating Medicare and Medicaid data. In addition to the one-on-one technical assistance, IAP developed use cases and webinars for participating states on Medicare and Medicaid data integration topics such as:

Using Integrated Medicare-Medicaid Data to Inform Data Driven Decision Making May 31, 2018
Technical Specifications and Tools
- Database Staging Model
- COBA Mapping Spreadsheets
- COBA Final Action Algorithm/Specification
Use Cases
- Profiling the Provider Role in Opioid Prescribing among Dual Eligible Beneficiaries
- Profiling Substance Use Disorder and Potential Opioid Misuse Among Dual Eligibles

Learning Webinars and Resources

In addition to the one-on-one technical assistance, IAP developed use cases, tools, and webinars to share solutions and information on data analytic-related issues that could be of interest to all states.

Data Visualization and Dashboards

Data Visualization Best Practices
So, You Want to Build a Dashboard? May 17, 2017 (audio, transcript)
So You Built a Dashboard: State Medicaid Agency Experiences January 17, 2019 (audio, transcript)

Data Quality

Improving the Quality of Medicaid Encounter Data October 12, 2017 (audio, transcript)
An Introduction to Missing Data Problems June 7, 2018 (audio, transcript)
Solving Missing Data Problems October 23, 2018 (audio, transcript)
- Solving Missing Data Problems by Multiple Imputation Webinar Supplement
Data Merging and Integration in Medicaid June 12, 2019 (audio, transcript)

Data Analysis