Arkansas Healthcare Transparency Initiative

APCD Data Dictionary: Non-Claims-Based Data

Commercial Carriers and Arkansas Medicaid

April 2019

Version 6.0.2018.1

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Overview

Access to timely, accurate, and relevant data is essential to improving quality, mitigating costs, and promoting transparency and efficiency in the healthcare delivery system. Pursuant to the Arkansas Healthcare Transparency Initiative of 2015,[1] the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI), or the “Administrator,” is hosting a comprehensive all-payer claims database (APCD) on behalf of the Arkansas Insurance Department (AID) that houses member enrollment data, medical claims, pharmacy claims, dental claims, and provider data.

Additionally, the Arkansas Healthcare Transparency Initiative was amended in 2017[2] to integrate hospital discharge and emergency department visits for the uninsured, cancer registry data, and birth and death certificate records into the Arkansas APCD.

Arkansas APCD Data Dictionary – Non-Claims-Based Data

Introduction

This document, the Arkansas Healthcare Transparency Initiative APCD Data Dictionary - Non-Claims-Based Data, provides data element definitions, data types, formats, and other information about fields available to the data requester for Arkansas All-Payer Claims Database (APCD) data obtained from the following data sources:

Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) Vital Statistics Data
- Arkansas Birth Certificates
- Arkansas Death Certificates
ADH Hospital Discharge and Emergency Department Data (for uninsured patients)
ADH Arkansas Cancer Registry Data (Original Layout and New Layout)
ADH Medical Marijuana Cardholders Data
Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission Data

These data must be selected in conjunction with claims-based data sourced from the Arkansas APCD, including:

Fully insured commercial payers
Self-insured entities receiving public funds
Arkansas Medicaid

Refer to the Resources page on the Arkansas APCD website for more information about the data request process including request types, data selection restrictions, and pricing.

What does this data dictionary contain?

This data dictionary contains every field available for selection by data requesters. As fields requested for different data requests can differ, this data dictionary may contain more data fields than those in the output dataset.

Data file layouts, data element descriptions, and other relevant data information for the data sources are provided in the Arkansas APCD Non-Claims-Based Data Layouts and Definitions section. Each data element description includes the data element definition, associated values, value definitions, format, data type, and expected coverage.

The dataset formats in the Arkansas APCD Non-Claims-Based Data Layouts and Definitions section created by the APCD Administrator were developed in compliance with the Acts described above and were identified after careful review of layouts used in other states, APCD Council guidance, and the APCD Council’s Core Set of Data Elements.[3] The Administrator selected formats and variables that (1) conform to the minimum standard APCD core layout provided by the APCD Council; (2) include the data elements required for health system analytics and consumer data reporting; and (3) facilitate healthcare data transparency in Arkansas.

APCD Technical Support

Technical support is available to data users and issues are logged and tracked upon notifying the APCD Technical Support team. The APCD Technical Support team will provide regular feedback during the resolution process.

Hours of Operation:

Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Central Time (excluding state and federal holidays).

Please report issues by emailing a detailed message that includes your contact information to initiate the resolution process. The APCD Technical Support team will respond to your reported issue as soon as possible.

APCD Technical Support Contact Information:

Phone: (501) 526-2244

Email: adrs@achiapcd.atlassian.net

Helpdesk: Data Users Helpdesk

Website: http://www.arkansasapcd.net

[1] Act 1233 of 2015

[2] Act 979 of 2017

[3] “APCD Medical Data Reporting: Proposed Core Set of Data Elements for Data Submission.” APCD Council, UNH, and NAHDO, October 2011. Available at http://www.apcdcouncil.org/sites/apcdcouncil.org/files/media/apcd_council_core_data_elements_5-10-12.pdf.