Help and resources for working with health care data
Published on Aug 24, 2026 by Samantha Saykao
Institutional providers, such as inpatient facilities, are required to report clinical trial information through the Claim Value Code and Claim Value Amount variables.
Published on Aug 17, 2026 by Rebecca Vick
Distilling millions of records into meaningful measures requires meticulous attention to detail; from initial specifications to final programming, precision is everything.
Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) research identifiable files (RIFs) include both approved and denied claims as well as claims that are denied in part. Claim denials are common, surprisingly complicated, and important for researchers to consider. The choice to include or exclude them could impact study inference(1). Understanding how to identify claims that are denied in whole or in part is key to selecting claims for an analysis.
The Master Beneficiary Summary File: Base file (MBSF: Base), a research identifiable file offered by CMS, contains two annual race variables: the Beneficiary Race Code and the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) Race Code. There are studies that look at the accuracy of these race variables(1,2), but there is little information about whether the information changes within the data itself.
Converting raw data into research insights requires the creation of an analytic file – a refined dataset customized for a specific study. Building these files involves aggregating large-scale data into target units, such as hospitals(1) or individual patients(2). Though the process is complex, it is a cornerstone of well-conducted research. This article offers practical guidance and key considerations for constructing these essential datasets.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) collects service-level encounter data from Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAOs) for the purpose of recording diagnoses used for risk adjusted payments to MAOs(2). Unlike a fee-for-service (FFS) claim, an encounter record is not a direct record of payment and not used for billing purposes. Thus, Encounter Research Identifiable Files (RIFs) have some unique aspects to consider: