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Prachi Sanghavi, a health policy researcher at the University of Chicago, is investigating whether ambulances that provide medical care at the scene of the emergency are better than basic ambulances that simply take an emergency patient to the hospital (this is not the case). It’s also about whether the federal government’s scoring formula for nursing home quality is good (that’s also a no). Their studies are helping Americans compare the country’s fitness practices. Unfortunately, his paintings are now threatened.
Dr. Sanghavi’s studies use insights provided through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal fitness company that administers U. S. public fitness insurance. In the U. S. CMS announced in February that it plans to replace its knowledge-sharing practices. The proposal increases knowledge fees and makes it less convenient. Nearly 400 scholars, Dr. Sanghavi added, from more than 75 facilities across the United States, signed a letter of protest. They say the new restrictions will jeopardize groundbreaking studies.
The U. S. doesn’t have a national system of fitness records, so CMS figures are available knowledge. More than one-third of Americans are covered through CMS, and more than a billion medical claims a year are handled through the agency. A goldmine for researchers reading everything from the privatization of physical care to the reasons for the opioid epidemic.
The company says it is changing the rules for knowledge security reasons. At first glance, this seems reasonable. CMS suffered a data breach last year. Confidential, nonpublic information, such as Social Security numbers and mailing addresses, was compromised for more than 600,000 people. Last month, Change Healthcare, a physical care payments company acquired through UnitedHealth Group, a giant insurer owned by it, also targeted.
Under the existing knowledge-sharing model, researchers can obtain physical copies of CMS knowledge. Then they’re guilty of knowledge security, says Alice Burns, a researcher at KFF, a fitness policy think tank. Unlike the CMS knowledge they hacked, the researchers’ knowledge does not include individual names or social security numbers.
However, they involve sensitive data, such as physical condition diagnoses, as well as a person’s age, race, and zip code. In some cases, a determined hacker might be able to identify an individual, but that’s highly unlikely, says David Maimon. from Georgia State University, which studies cybersecurity. The proposed policy calls for researchers to move to a virtual hub hosted through CMS.
It’s all about balancing risks and rewards, says Haywood Talcove of LexisNexis Risk Solutions, a company that sells fraud prevention services. In this case, the calculation is unbalanced. Since the CMS has already been hacked, storing knowledge on it doesn’t make it secure.
Researchers say the benefits of the existing style far outweigh the protective risks. Protesting scientists say less established researchers and those in poorer educational establishments may simply lose access. “Why don’t we invite the world’s most productive public fitness experts to take a look?with the same knowledge as us?” asks Paul Mango, former chief of staff for CMS in the Trump administration.
All is not lost. The adjustments have not yet gone into effect, and the company will accept comments from researchers until May 15. But for now, researchers need to maintain the prestige quo. Since the vast majority of older adults get advantages from Medicare, those numbers give “a great longitudinal view of a person’s life,” Dr. Sanghavi says. It’s hard to assess that. ■
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This article appeared in the U. S. segment of the print edition under the name “Digital Blocks. “
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