Primary Care

By

HealtheConnections Health Planning

Funding Area

Primary Care

Date

December 16, 2014

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This HealtheConnections Health Planning report, supported by NYHealth, examines the feasibility of creating a statewide database of health care providers and its potential uses, as well as offers recommendations for making the database a reality in New York State.

As a result of the Affordable Care Act, more than 1 million New Yorkers have signed up for health coverage. With this dramatic surge of health insurance coverage and the coinciding increase in demand for health care services, data on health care provider locations and practice characteristics that can inform needs and opportunities are critical to the success of health reform in New York State.

A reliable statewide database of provider locations and characteristics would help health planners and policymakers build health care capacity and target investments to achieve greater primary care access for New Yorkers; yet no single source of information exists to provide them and other stakeholders with timely, accurate information about health care providers in New York State. Under the current system, collecting provider information is arduous and requires users to examine multiple resources that may not be up-to-date.

The report takes a look at the advantages to having a statewide provider database and knowing where, when, and how providers are practicing; how such a database could increase health care access and capacity; and what the best data sources and elements would be to maximize its functionality. It offers recommendations for housing and sustaining the database, including data access, funding, hosting, and legal and regulatory changes.