The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has come out in support of incorporating unique device identifiers in insurance claims forms. This would be a boon to medical researchers, and provide a bounty of data about medical device safety and effectiveness, according to medtech consultant Jay Crowley, who spearheaded the ongoing unique device identification (UDI) drive during his tenure at the Food and Drug Administration.
Insurance claims are a unique and powerful data source because they provide a plethora of longitudinal information about a patient's interaction with the healthcare system, Crowley said. Because the ubiquitous documents are standardized (private insurers typically follow CMS's lead when it comes to claims forms) they can be easily aggregated across health plans.
Read Full Article »