California to establish all payer claims database

Earlier this year, California passed legislation to create an all payer claims database, where health insurers are required to submit claims data to a centralized database for analysis. The initiative is exciting from a health policy perspective; many, but not all, other states already have such a database, and health policy analysts can gain insight into pricing and trending procedures. The legislation appears to have become law at the end of June.

The rollout is expected to take three years, and the current plan is for only highlights or summaries of the data to become publicly available. Additionally, the legislation only funds the start of the initiative, expecting that the agency around this database will find its own funding for ongoing maintenance costs. Nevertheless, this initiative is a step in providing better insight into healthcare expenditures that might eventually lead to better health policies.