Providence urges caution on aggregated provider-level data in cost-growth report

During the public-comment period, Teddy McGuire said Providence submitted written feedback and flagged specific data issues in the board's cost growth benchmark report. McGuire said the board's use of aggregated provider-entity reporting can obscure important differences across payers and that some supplemental hospital assessment payments were treated as claims in reporting, inflating Medicaid cost growth measures.

"We continue to be concerned that aggregating data at the provider entity level creates significant challenges in validating and verifying its accuracy," McGuire said. He asked staff to provide more detailed breakdowns and to ensure payments that are assessment-based are reflected alongside the associated assessments so the data driving policy recommendations are transparent and comparable. Staff acknowledged the comment and said the draft report and the data appendix will be posted for review and that staff will engage with stakeholders to address reporting inconsistencies.