31-53-45. Role of administrator.

The administrator of the GAPCD shall be the Center for Health Analytics and Informatics of the Georgia Institute of Technology. The administrator, in consultation with the advisory committee, shall:#

1. (1)

   Determine the data to be collected from submitting entities and the method of collection, including mandatory and voluntary reporting of health care and health quality data;#

2. (2)

   Seek to establish agreements for voluntary reporting of health care claims data from health care payers that are not subject to mandatory reporting requirements in order to ensure availability of the most comprehensive and systemwide data on health care costs and quality;#

3. (3)

   Seek to establish agreements or requests with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to obtain Medicare health claims data;#

4. (4)

   Determine the measures necessary to implement the reporting requirements in a manner that is cost-effective and reasonable for data sources and timely, relevant, and reliable for public and private health care purchasers and consumers, providers, and policymakers;#

5. (5)

   Determine the reports and data to be made available to the public with recommendations from the advisory committee in order to accomplish the purposes of this Code section, including conducting studies and reporting the results of the studies;#

6. (6)

   Collect, aggregate, distribute, and publicly report performance data on quality, health outcomes, health disparities, cost, utilization, and pricing in a manner accessible for public and private health care purchasers and consumers, providers, and policymakers;#

7. (7)

   Protect patient privacy in compliance with state and federal health record confidentiality laws while preserving the ability to analyze data and share with providers and submitting entities to ensure accuracy prior to the public release of information;#

8. (8)

   Report to the Governor and the General Assembly on or before March 1 of each year on the status of implementing the GAPCD and any recommendations for statutory or regulatory changes, with input from the advisory committee, that would advance the purposes of this article; and#

9. (9)

   Provide leadership and coordination of public and private health care quality and performance measurements to ensure efficiency, cost-effectiveness, transparency, and informed choice by public and private health care purchasers and consumers.#

The administrator, with input from the advisory committee, shall:#

1. (1)

   Incorporate and utilize publicly available data other than administrative claims data, if necessary, to measure and analyze a significant health care quality, safety, or cost issue that cannot be adequately measured with administrative claims data alone;#

2. (2)

   Require submitting entities to submit data necessary to implement the GAPCD; and#

3. (3)

   Determine the data elements to be collected, the reporting formats for data submitted, and the use and reporting of any data submitted. Data collection shall align with national, regional, and other uniform all-payer claims databases’ standards when possible.#

The administrator, with input from the advisory committee, may:#

1. (1)

   Audit the accuracy of all data submitted;#

2. (2)

   Contract with third parties to collect and process the health care data collected pursuant to this article. The contract shall prohibit the collection of unencrypted social security numbers and the use of the data for any purpose other than those specifically authorized by the contract. The contract shall require the third party to transmit the data collected and processed under such contract to the administrator or other designated entity; and#

3. (3)

   Share data regionally or help develop a multistate effort if recommended by the advisory committee.#