(a) The commission shall make every effort to improve data analysis and integrate available information associated with Medicaid. The commission shall use the decision support system in the commission’s center for strategic decision support for this purpose and shall modify or redesign the system to allow for the data collected by Medicaid to be used more systematically and effectively for Medicaid evaluation and policy development. The commission shall develop or redesign the system as necessary to ensure that the system:
(1) incorporates program enrollment, utilization, and provider data that are currently collected;
(2) allows data manipulation and quick analysis to address a large variety of questions concerning enrollment and utilization patterns and trends within the program;
(3) is able to obtain consistent and accurate answers to questions;
(4) allows for analysis of multiple issues within the program to determine whether any programmatic or policy issues overlap or are in conflict;
(5) includes predefined data reports on utilization of high-cost services that allow program management to analyze and determine the reasons for an increase or decrease in utilization and immediately proceed with policy changes, if appropriate;
(6) includes any encounter data with respect to recipients that a managed care organization that contracts with the commission under Chapter 533 receives from a health care provider under the organization’s provider network; and
(7) links Medicaid and non-Medicaid data sets, including data sets related to Medicaid, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, vital statistics, and other public health programs.
(b) The commission shall ensure that all Medicaid data sets created or identified by the decision support system are made available on the Internet to the extent not prohibited by federal or state laws regarding medical privacy or security. If privacy concerns exist or arise with respect to making the data sets available on the Internet, the system and the commission shall make every effort to make the data available through that means either by removing information by which particular individuals may be identified or by aggregating the data in a manner so that individual records cannot be associated with particular individuals.

(c) The commission shall regularly evaluate data submitted by managed care organizations that contract with the commission under Chapter 533 to determine whether:
(1) the data continues to serve a useful purpose; and
(2) additional data is needed to oversee contracts or evaluate the effectiveness of Medicaid.
(d) The commission shall collect Medicaid managed care data that effectively captures the quality of services received by Medicaid recipients.
(e) The commission shall develop a dashboard for agency leadership that is designed to assist leadership with overseeing Medicaid and comparing the performance of managed care organizations participating in Medicaid. The dashboard must identify a concise number of important Medicaid indicators, including key data, performance measures, trends, and problems.

Text of section effective until April 01, 2025