Wall Street Journal Publisher Sues for Medicare Data Access
On Tuesday, Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, filed a lawsuit seeking access to data about how much Medicare funds individual physicians receive. The issue concerns access to a database -- known as the Carrier Standard Analytic File -- that includes information on physicians and other health care providers participating in Medicare who are paid on a fee-for-service basis. The American Medical Association maintains that such data should be kept private, while the Journal argues that prohibiting access to the data limits its ability to report on fraud and abuse in Medicare. Â
- "Journal Seeks To End Ban on Medicare Data" (Schneider, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 1/25).
- "Journal Sues To Open Up Medicare Database" (Adams, Wall Street Journal, 1/26).