VA Information Resource Center
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
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Q. How can the Medicare claims be linked to other data?
A. The VA-Medicare data include real SSN or the VA's scrambled SSN (SCRSSN) on each
claim and enrollment record. These identifiers can be used to link Medicare claims
and enrollment records to each other, to VA data, or to non-VA data.
Q. What is the cost of obtaining the VA-Medicare data from
VIReC?
A. VIReC provides VA-Medicare data to VA researchers at no charge.
Q. What is the difference between the Vital Status file and the Denominator
file?
Issues
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Vital Status
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Denominator
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Population
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Ever enrolled in Medicare
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Enrolled in Medicare in the calendar year
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Enrollment data
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No
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Yes
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Time period
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Cumulative; updates are obtained from CMS annually
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One per Calendar Year
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Death dates and
Place of residence
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Updated annually
Currently as of 11/30/04
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As of March of the following calendar year (e.g., 2000
Denominator will contain death dates and residence as of March 2001)
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Q. What is the difference between the MedPAR file
and the Inpatient and SNF SAFs?
Difference
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MedPAR
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Inpatient SAF
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SNF SAF
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Contains claims for
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Inpatient and Skilled Nursing Facilities
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Inpatient Facilities
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Skilled Nursing Facilities
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File structure
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Stay level (one stay record may summarize
several claims)
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Claim level
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Benefits/limitations
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• Smaller file size
• Stay level summaries in one record
• Department level charges
• Limited to 10 ICD-9 diagnosis codes per stay
• Limited to 6 ICD-9 procedure codes per stay
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• Larger file size
• Must combine claims to obtain stay-level summaries
• Revenue center level charges
10 ICD-9 diagnosis codes per claim; unlimited claims per stay
• 6 ICD-9 procedure codes per claim; unlimited claims per stay
• Contains physician information
• Contains HCPCS
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ResDAC also explains the differences: http://www.resdac.umn.edu/medicare/medicareFAQ.asp.
Q. When will more Medicare files be available from
VIReC?
Files for a calendar year are normally available to VA researchers
18 months after the end of the calendar year.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) usually
makes Medicare claims files available 8 months after the close of the calendar year.
The VA Office of the Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Health Medicare Analysis Center
(MAC) provides a finder file of SSNs to CMS when the data are available, and usually
begins receiving the data from CMS three months later. MAC then forwards the Medicare
data to VIReC, and VIReC builds the files for research. After VIReC performs data quality
checks, the files are made available to researchers.
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Reviewed/Updated Date:
August 5, 2008
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