The U.S. Government Accountability Office identified several shortcomings in a state-reported Medicaid data program called the Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System in a December 2017 report.
CMS officials have identified T-MSIS as its primary effort to improve oversight of Medicaid data, according to GAO. National rollout of the T-MSIS program has been hindered by a number of technological problems since its launch in 2011. In late 2016, only 18 states were reporting data to the program.
To evaluate T-MSIS' progress, GAO officials reviewed states' experiences with program implementation and interviewed government officials from a sample of eight states throughout the last year. Agency officials also interviewed leaders and contractors at CMS who are involved in the T-MSIS effort.
As of November 2017, 49 states indicated reporting T-MSIS data. However, while the uptick represents a notable improvement compared to previous years, state officials still reported many data challenges hindering their full use of the program. Many states from the eight state sample are not reporting complete data.
"These states said that certain unreported elements were contingent on federal or state actions, and others were not applicable to the state's Medicaid program," according to the report. The eight states reviewed by GAO also reported converting data to the T-MSIS format was a significant challenge.
The eight states also indicated to GAO they were interested in CMS taking on a larger role in facilitating information sharing among states, to ensure comparability of T-MSIS data. GAO also noted CMS has not laid out a specific oversight plan.
"CMS has taken steps for the initial use of T-MSIS data, but does not have a plan or associated timeframes for using these data for oversight," the report concludes. "As a result, important CMS goals for T-MSIS, such as reducing states' reporting burden and enhancing program integrity activities, are not being fully realized."
To access the GAO report, click here.