Healthcare improvement company Premier is the first organization to be given permission to access the CMS Virtual Research Data Center.
Premier will conduct Innovator Research using the database, which holds privacy-protected Medicare data. Premier Insights, the company's research and analytics division, will focus on using the data to develop quality improvement and cost containment interventions.
"Access to the VRDC will allow Premier to calculate timelier performance measures than currently available and identify additional opportunity areas to help move healthcare performance improvement further, faster," said Wes Champion, senior vice president of Premier Performance Partners.