This work would not have been possible under the data policy CMS proposed (and thankfully postponed). Under that policy, we'd need to use the VRDC, which was too expensive even with our generous NIA grant. I'm hopeful CMS will keep listening to researchers' concerns here.

ASasacarny.bsky.socialApr 25, 2024 3:22pm

Our new study in JAMA Network Open finds that randomized overprescribing warning letters safely reduced antipsychotic prescribing to patients with dementia. The paper: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... Authors: Harnisch @mlbarnett.bsky.social @coussens.bsky.social Thomas Olfson Berhane + me

Physician Antipsychotic Overprescribing Letters and Outcomes Among People With Dementia

This secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial examines whether warning letters to high prescribers of quetiapine are associated with reduced

Glad to see that @CMSGov is postponing plans to end the on-site data access that has been crucial for research and policymaking. They are clearly listening to our concerns. Many thanks to the folks who pressed the administration + folks in the admin and CMS who are listening.

Good news for researchers who use Medicare data #EconSky

ASasacarny.bsky.socialApr 15, 2024 3:17pm

Glad to see that @CMSGov is postponing plans to end the on-site data access that has been crucial for research and policymaking. They are clearly listening to our concerns. Many thanks to the folks who pressed the administration + folks in the admin and CMS who are listening.

Congratulations to CMS and the Administration on today's announcement delaying implementation of this change! For the reasons we give in the quoted link, CMS can maintain data security while improving research access policies. It's great to see CMS responding to feedback. Announcement is here:

New today in Briefing Book from @gottliebecon.bsky.socialwww.briefingbook.info/p/proposed-c...

Proposed CMS data changes risk major research fallout

There is still time to find a better way to keep data secure

And we all spent yesterday shaking our heads at that columnist

Scholar-hero Tymofiy Mylovanov will be back in town next week. If you are available, please join @ksonin.bsky.social@monikanalepa.bsky.social, and me for a conversation with Tymofiy, Wed, Feb 21, 3:00 to 4:00. Registration and details at the link.

Submission Deadline Approaching: NBER's Economic Analysis of Regulation meeting in Cambridge. Papers are due by Feb 15th and can be uploaded to the conference page here: www.nber.org/calls-papers...

This is a nightmare for researchers and a total own-goal for good health policy. Policy announcement is here: www.cms.gov/data-researc...

Just got the email from CMS that they are planning to discontinue physical access to the Medicare/Medicaid research files and force everyone to use the (incredibly expensive) VRDC. In the transition, they'll charge physical data users $10K/year to renew DUAs. This is bad.