The Maine Health Data Processing Center (DPC) was created in 2001 as a “nonprofit corporation with a public purpose” — the efficient collection and management of healthcare claims from across the state. Designed as a public-private partnership, the DPC brings together two key organizations: the Maine Health Data Organization (MHDO) and Onpoint Health Data (formerly the Maine Health Information Center), a private nonprofit expert in the processing, normalization, and analysis of healthcare claims data.

By joining MHDO and Onpoint, the DPC leverages both organizations’ critical expertise: MHDO provides the leadership and regulatory authority to develop the filing mandates and public database access rules, while Onpoint provides deep technical knowledge and a well-developed claims processing system with the data quality and validation edits required to ensure a reliable all-payer database.

Initial Maine payer testing began in November 2002, and live data was submitted first in January 2003. To date, the DPC has processed more than 1 billion records, collecting and managing claims and eligibility data for dental, medical, and pharmacy services provided to Maine residents by more than 160 carrier systems, including commercial, Medicaid, and Medicare payers. The DPC also has become responsible for building and maintaining Maine’s master provider index, which allows the state to more closely track healthcare outcomes by individual provider. Deemed “an essential government function” by the state, the DPC has become a widely successful joint effort and a national front-runner in the operation of an all-payer claims database.

OPERATION
The DPC continues to maintain Maine State’s all-payer, all-setting healthcare claims database system, which includes both eligibility and claims data and covers dental, medical, and pharmacy claims. Collection frequency ranges from monthly (88 companies, including MaineCare) to quarterly (26 companies) to annual (19 companies, including CMS).

The claims data collected for Maine residents is the exclusive property of the MHDO, which provides permanent storage of all data as well as distribution to the public. The DPC neither retains nor releases any of the data.

GOVERNANCE
The DPC is governed by a board of directors whose members serve as technical advisors, focusing largely on state and national issues that have implications for the efficient management of data in Maine. The DPC is governed by an 11 member board of directors (see Table 1 below), which includes Onpoint’s president/CEO; three Onpoint board members; MHDO’s executive director; three MHDO board members, each representing a different constituency; and three constituency representatives (i.e., healthcare providers, third-party payers, employers, and consumers of healthcare).

ANNUAL REPORTS
MHDPC Annual Report - 2010
MHDPC Annual Report - 2009
MHDPC Annual Report - 2008
MHDPC Annual Report - 2007
MHDPC Annual Report - 2006
MHDPC Annual Report - 2005
MHDPC Annual Report - 2004
MHDPC Annual Report - 2003
MHDPC Annual Report - 2002