Benefits of DPC over CCLF

[Vishwa Hegde]

Hello,

We are in the process of consuming CCLF data to help our providers coordinate care and are also evaluating the benefits of DPC data in addition to CCLF. I understand that the DPC data can be accessed via FHIR API but can you please help me understand whether:

• Are there additional data fields in DPC that are not there in CCLF which will enable our providers to treat their patients better at the point of care?
• What is the lag or delay when our providers access the DPC data? Will the DPC data be refreshed on a weekly or bi-weekly basis? For the CCLF data, I understand that new datasets are made available on a monthly cadence.

Thank you so much for running this initiative that is geared towards solving the interoperability issue.  

Best Regards,

Vishwa

 

[DPC Team]

Hi Vishwa,

Thank you for the questions and the kind words.

To address your first question regarding the difference in data between DPC and CCLF files, there is another API in the FHIR FFS Medicare claims data sharing ecosystem, The Beneficiary Claims Data API (BCDA), that has this BCDA/CCLF data dictionary that you may find useful. There is also this section on their website, CCLF v. BCDA Data, that you may find useful as well. DPC and BCDA share the same FFS Medicare claims data so the data dictionary is relevant for both DPC and BCDA although the one caveat is that DPC does not return the Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TIN). As referenced in this Google Group post in the BCDA Google Group from earlier this month, we are working on a more comprehensive data dictionary, which will be similar to the BCDA data dictionary that currently provides a Claim and Claim Line Feed (CCLF) file crosswalk, but it will list all data elements in the FHIR output, along with extensions. We aim to release a first iteration of that comprehensive data dictionary in the spring of 2022.

To address your second question regarding data timeliness, the data shared through BCDA and DPC is refreshed weekly.

Please let us know if you have any further questions.

The DPC API Team