RE: AANS/CNS Feedback on Enhancing the Availability and Utility of Healthcare Data
Dear Senators Wyden and Grassley,
On behalf of the 4,000 practicing neurosurgeons in the United States, the American Association of
Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) appreciate the
opportunity to provide the Senate Finance Committee with input on how to make healthcare data more
useful and readily available to the public. The AANS and CNS recognize the potential value of healthcare
data. If collected and used appropriately, such data could provide accurate and meaningful information to
patients, physicians, and other stakeholders, which can improve quality and lead to more efficient and
appropriate care.
Overall, organized neurosurgery supports efforts to increase knowledge about the quality of healthcare
and the efficient use of resources in the delivery of healthcare services. We also recognize that greater
access to healthcare data will assist with the development and testing of new delivery models and help to
transform existing payment systems. However, there is a critical need to safeguard against potential
abuses and unintended consequences related to the release of healthcare data that could negatively
impact patient outcomes, lead to greater complexity and confusion, and result in false or incorrect
accusations about healthcare providers, without due process. As such, we appreciate your continued
efforts to engage the physician community on this issue and offer the following responses to your
questions.
1. What data sources should be made more broadly available?
The AANS and CNS have long promoted the value of clinical data over claims data in providing more
accurate and relevant information regarding medical care. While claims data are routinely collected and
relatively inexpensive to analyze, they are intended for billing purposes and not for quality reporting or
capturing the nuances of clinical care. National specialty societies, including organized neurosurgery,
are widely engaged in the development of clinical data registries, which produce more robust data than
are available through claims, are audited for completeness and accuracy, include risk adjustment
methodologies that appropriately account for patient severity, and benchmarking that makes the most
sense for the specialty and their patient populations.
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