The North Carolina Chamber of Commerce has recommended that the state consider creating an All-Payer Claims Database, citing the North Carolina Institute of Medicine’s 2017 Task Force on the issue.

All-Payer Claims Databases collect health care claims data from many sources, creating a dataset that can be used to track quality, utilization, and cost. The data can also provide an epidemiological snapshot of a population and help with tracking disease prevalence.

Despite the name, these databases don’t technically include “all payers” because some employer-sponsored health plans are not required to provide access to their claims. But 23 states have APCDs, and as the NCIOM and Chamber have noted, they can provide the following benefits:

• Showing the types of health care people are using and how much that health care costs
• Raising awareness about discrepancies in cost and utilization across the state
• Understanding the full cost of various health conditions across providers
• Helping to identify high-quality care providers

In the 2017 Task Force report, the NCIOM recommended including payers such as Medicaid and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina in an APCD in order to increase “opportunities to improve quality, control cost, and understand variation in care.” The NC Chamber of Commerce report suggests that such a database could help more than 35,000 businesses in the state get a better understanding of health care costs and value for their employees.

Click here to read the full report from the NCIOM Task Force on All-Payer Claims Database.