Patient Medical Records Already Collected by the Minnesota Department of Health*

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From Minnesota Hospitals:

Year Inpatient Records Outpatient Records

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

399,228 447,434 465,240 485,826 507,059 518,848

548,989 813,290 1,096,616 1,281,710 1,438,127 1,540,046

Total: 2,823,635 6,718,778

From Health Plans:

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota

Year Medical Records

1995 1996 1997 1998-1999 2000

10,019,934 12,469,346 8,450,656 34,358,746 14,200,258

Total: 79,498,940

Medica Health Plan

Year Medical Records

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

6,796,978 8,423,877 8,689,283 7,645,528 7,996,404 8,878,196

Total: 48,430,266

Identifiability of Patient Data Collected by the Health Department

The hospital records do not include patient name, Social Security Number or full address. However, they include the medical record number, gender, date of birth, and zip code. The health plan records do not have names or street addresses, but do have zip codes and ID numbers assigned by the health plans. Therefore the records are de-identified, but not unidentifiable. The proposed rule had required names, identification numbers and other data (and annual linking of data) that would have made the information identifiable.

* Data received from the Minnesota Department of Health.

CCHC is an independent non-profit free-market health care policy organization located in St. Paul, Minnesota