MHDO is a state agency that collects health care data and makes those data available to researchers, policy makers, and the public while protecting individual privacy.

The purpose of the organization is to create and maintain a useful, objective, reliable and comprehensive health information database that is used to improve the health of Maine citizens.   Learn More

Recent Announcements

September 17, 2024 Rule Chapter 340 Adopted

Rule Chapter 340 - Uniform Reporting System for Reporting 340B Drug Program Data Sets has been adopted and is effective September 17, 2024.

August 14, 2024 - Two Proposed Rules, Public Hearing Date & Public Comments Deadline:

Rule Chapter 100 - Enforcement
This proposed rule change is necessary to align the enforcement requirements of several new data reporting mandates.

New Rule Chapter 800 - Uniform Reporting of the Cost of Insulin
The purpose of this new rule Chapter is to explain the provisions for reporting the acquisition costs of insulin from drug manufacturers to the MHDO. It includes identification of the manufacturers, establishment of the requirements for content, format, method, time frame for filing, establishment of standards for the data, and compliance provisions.

A virtual public hearing will be held for the two proposed rules above on September 5, 2024 at 9:00 A.M. EST. The deadline for public comments for both rules is September 16, 2024 at 5:00 P.M EST.

June 25, 2024 - Rule Chapter 243 Adopted

Revisions to Rule Chapter 243 - Uniform Reporting System for Health Care Claims Data Sets were adopted by the MHDO Board of Directors in December 2023 and in June 2024. The implementation date is January 1, 2025 for the submitters to include these changes in their data submission to MHDO. See the Statute and Rules page for the final version of the rule, the proposed rule, and the basis statement/summary of changes documents.

June 25, 2024 - Rule Chapter 247 Adopted

Chapter 247 - Uniform Reporting System for Non-Claims Based Payments and Other Supplemental Health Care Data Sets was adopted and submitters must include the changes in their data submissions to MHDO on the implementation date of January 1, 2025.

April 30, 2024 - Rule Chapter 270 Adopted

Proposed Rule Chapter 270 - Uniform Reporting System for Health Care Quality Data Sets was adopted and is effective 5/23/24.

April 11, 2024 - Two Proposed Rules, Public Hearing Date & Public Comments Deadline:

Proposed Rule Chapter 243 - Uniform Reporting System for Health Care Claims Data Sets
The proposed rule changes incorporate feedback from the reporting entities specific to the structure for reporting capitation data to the Maine Health Data Organization. These changes will improve the process by which payors report capitated data to the MHDO including payments and services.

Proposed Rule Chapter 340 - Uniform Reporting System for Reporting 340B Drug Program Data Sets
This new rule is being proposed to implement the provisions in Title 22 M.R.S. §1728(2)(A-D)(3).

A virtual public hearing will be held for the two proposed rules above on May 1, 2024 at 9:00 A.M. EST. The deadline for public comments for both rules is May 13, 2024 at 5:00 P.M. EST.

March 19, 2024 - New Report: Annual Facility Fees Report

Public Law 2023, Chapter 410 (LD1795), An Act to Create Greater Transparency for Facility Fees Charged by Health Care Providers and to Establish the Task Force to Evaluate the Impact of Facility Fees on Patients, requires the Maine Health Data Organization (MHDO) to submit an annual report on payments for facility fees made by payers, to the extent that payment information is already reported to the organization. You will find a copy of our first annual report here.

March 11, 2024 - Second Annual Report on Behavioral Health Care Spending

Public Law 2021, Chapter 603, requires the Maine Quality Forum to develop an annual report on behavioral health care spending using claims data from the Maine Health Data Organization. Here is a copy of the second annual report.

February 23, 2024 New Report:

Public Law 2019, Chapter 244, requires the Maine Quality Forum to develop an annual report on primary care spending using claims data from the Maine Health Data Organization. Here is the fifth annual Primary Care Spending report.

February 7, 2024 New Report: MHDO’s Annual Prescription Drug Pricing Transparency Report

Public Law 2019, Chapter 470, An Act to Further Expand Drug Price Transparency, requires the Maine Health Data Organization to submit an annual report on prescription drug pricing to the Joint Standing Committee on Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services. The findings of our fourth annual report are now available.

January 11, 2024 - New FY2022 MHDO Standardized Hospital Financial Data Reports Are Now Available

The Annual Summary Reports have been condensed and include both unconsolidated hospital financial data and consolidated health system financial data. The unconsolidated hospital data covers a five year period (FY 2018 – 2022) and includes data elements as reported by Maine hospitals and common financial ratios. The consolidated health system data covers a two year period (FY 2021 – 2022). The updated reports can be found on our Hospital Financials web page.

October 27, 2023 - Nursing Facilities

MHDO recently posted an updated CDI LabID Reporting Fact Sheet that includes additional information on resources available to assist nursing facilities with meeting the CDI LabID event reporting requirements defined in 90-590 Chapter 270, Uniform Reporting System for Health Care Quality Data Sets.

April 4, 2023 - NEW Report on Behavioral Health Care Spending

Public Law 2021, Chapter 603, requires the Maine Quality Forum to develop an annual report on behavioral health care spending using claims data from the Maine Health Data Organization. Here is a copy of the first annual report.

February 27, 2023 - New Report

Public Law 2021, Chapter 606, requires the Maine Health Data Organization (MHDO) to produce an annual report to be posted on its publicly accessible website that provides information regarding potential savings that could be achieved by subjecting drugs identified as the costliest and most frequently prescribed in the State to a reference rate as defined in the law. MHDO’s first annual report can be found here: Rx Reference Rates (maine.gov)

February 16, 2023 - Legislative Hearing Documents

Select these links to see the testimony for Rule Chapter 100 and testimony for Rule Chapter 570

February 16, 2023 - New Report

Public Law 2019, Chapter 244, requires the Maine Quality Forum to develop an annual report on primary care spending using claims data from the Maine Health Data Organization. Here is the fourth annual report

January 24, 2023 - Legislative Briefing Memo for both MHDO and MQF

Please select the link to access the Briefing Memo.

December 15, 2022 - New Report: Annual Prescription Drug Pricing Transparency Report

Public Law 2019, Chapter 470, An Act to Further Expand Drug Price Transparency, requires the Maine Health Data Organization to submit an annual report on prescription drug pricing to the Joint Standing Committee on Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services. The findings of our third annual report are now available.

May 18, 2022 - Launch of MHDO Data Request Portal 2.0

Based on our data users’ feedback, version 2.0 of the MHDO Data Request Portal includes several new features including the ability to download and print the application, copy it and update for future requests and share with others that may be completing certain sections of the application. Here is a link to a demonstration on the new features of the MHDO Data Request Portal: MHDO Data Request Portal 2.0 Users Meeting Demo - YouTube.

April 2022 - New MHDO Interactive Data Availability Tableau Reports for both claims and hospital data (inpatient and outpatient encounters).

April 2022 - HCUP (Healthcare Cost And Utilization Project) Statistical Briefs

HCUP Statistical Briefs are developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and provide healthcare statistics on hospital inpatient stays, emergency department visits, and ambulatory surgeries. Topics include medical conditions treated, procedures performed, patient populations served, and quality of care. See the full report here.

February 23, 2022 - New Report

Public Law 2021, Chapter 34, requires the Maine Health Data Organization to develop a report on the Best Methods and Definitions to Use in Collecting Data to Better Understand Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Provision of Health Care in Maine. You can see a copy of the report via the link above.

February 2022 - NEW Postings

List of NDC’s for Manufacturers drugs that hit one of the triggers as defined in 90-590 CMR Chapter 570, UNIFORM REPORTING SYSTEM FOR PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICE DATA SETS, section 2. (B)( 1-3); and a list of drug product families for which MHDO intends to request pricing component data from reporting entities.

February 2022 - New Report

Public Law 2019, Chapter 244, requires the Maine Quality Forum to develop an annual report beginning January 15, 2020 on primary care spending using claims data from the Maine Health Data Organization. Here is the third annual report: 2022 Annual Report: Primary Care Spending

January 21, 2022 - New Report: Annual Prescription Drug Pricing Transparency Report

Public Law 2019, Chapter 470, An Act to Further Expand Drug Price Transparency, requires the Maine Health Data Organization to submit an annual report on prescription drug pricing to the Joint Standing Committee on Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services. The findings of our second annual report are now available.

February 2021 - New Report Public Law, Chapter 244, requires the Maine Quality Forum to develop an annual report beginning January 15, 2020 on primary care spending using claims data from the Maine Health Data Organization. Here is the second annual report: 2021 Annual Report: Primary Care Spending

New Report - February 2021 2020 Annual Prescription Drug Pricing Transparency Report

Public Law, Chapter 470, An Act to Further Expand Drug Price Transparency, requires the Maine Health Data Organization to submit an annual report on prescription drug pricing to the Joint Standing Committee on Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services. The findings of our first annual report are now available.

New: Report Card On State Price Transparency Laws. Catalyst for Payment Reform and the Source on Healthcare Price and Competition, at the University of California Hastings College of Law, released their 2020 Report highlighting the efforts of states across the country in making health care price information available to consumers. States that scored high in this year’s report are those with robust price transparency laws and useful resources for consumers, such as mandatory websites that display price information at no charge and in a consumer-friendly format. Maine and New Hampshire are the only two states that received a grade of an A. Copy of full Report can be found here: Report Card on State Price Transparency Laws May 2020.

January 2020 - New Report Public Law, Chapter 244, requires the Maine Quality Forum to develop an annual report beginning January 15, 2020 on primary care spending using claims data from the Maine Health Data Organization. The report must also include information on the methods used to reimburse primary care providers from payers. Here is the first annual report.

July 2, 2019 - NEW – MHDO All-Payer Claims Database On-line Training Program

To support interested and or new MHDO data users, the Maine Health Data Organization is pleased to release an online training program for Maine’s All Payer Claims Database (APCD). The training is designed in a modular format so that users can review sections most relevant to their needs. New modules will be added over time. For more information go to MHDO's All-Payer Claims Database On-line Training Program.

March 2019 - New Report Public Law, Chapter 406, Section 2, requires the Maine Health Data Organization to develop a plan to collect data from manufacturers related to the cost and pricing of prescription drugs to provide transparency in and accountability for prescription drug pricing. The findings and recommendations of the Maine Health Data Organization are now available.

February 2019 - The External Validation Report of CY 2017 Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection (CLABSI) in Maine Hospitals conducted on behalf of the Maine Quality Forum is now available

January 24, 2019 - MHDO Briefed the Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services January 22, 2019

Here are the MQF and MHDO briefing documents.

January 17, 2019 - MHDO Briefing to the Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services Committee

Here are the MQF and MHDO briefing documents.

December 27, 2017 - AHRQ Announces Release of a New HCUP Database - the 2015 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS)

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) just released a new Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) database – the 2015 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS). The MHDO is one of HCUP’s partners and it is the MHDO hospital data that is sent to HCUP that is then integrated into the national ED database. The NEDS was created to enable analyses of emergency department (ED) utilization patterns. Note as reported by AHRQ the ED serves a dual role in the U.S. healthcare system infrastructure, as a point of entry for approximately 50 percent of inpatient hospital admissions and as a setting for treat-and-release outpatient visits. The NEDS contains information about geographic, hospital, and patient characteristics as well as descriptions of the nature of the visits (i.e., common reasons for ED visits, including injuries). The NEDS is the largest all-payer ED database that is publicly available in the United States, containing information from 30.5 million ED visits at 953 hospitals that approximate a 20-percent stratified sample of U.S. hospital-owned EDs. Weights are provided to calculate national estimates representative of 143 million ED visits in the U.S. for calendar year 2015.

The 2015 NEDS is a publicly available database that can be purchased through the HCUP Central Distributor.

December 7, 2017 - The MHDO Board of Directors suspends the enforcement of Rule Chapter 630: Uniform System for Reporting Baseline Information and Restructuring Occurrences for Maine Hospitals and Parent Entities, effective with the January 1, 2018 submission, until further action of the board.

November 2017 - Maine is one of two states that earned an A in price transparency.

The Price Transparency & Physician Quality Report Card 2017 by Altarum and Catalyst was released in early November. The report provides information on how readily consumers can find health care price and quality information in every state across the country. Maine is one of two states that earned an A in price transparency. The report states, "Maine also continues to set a high standard by collecting data in an APCD that includes a full scope of providers and paid amounts. The state’s price transparency website-CompareMaine has clear and easy to understand information on health care costs, and also allows consumers to select facilities for comparison purposes, earning Maine an A again this year."

August 29, 2017 - Patient Experience Matters' Report, "Analysis of Patient Experience Over Time, 2012-2014" is available

This report compares the results from Maine's 2012 and 2014 patient experience surveys and shows changes over time from practices across the state, as well as comparisons with national trends. A summary of the key findings are described in the first couple of pages of the executive summary.

July 19, 2017 - AHRQ'S HCUP Fast Stats on Opioid-Related Hospital Use Topic Updated

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has updated the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Fast Stats on Opioid-Related Hospital Use topic to include trends in the number of inpatient stays and emergency department (ED) visits by expected primary payer (Medicare, Medicaid, privately insured, and uninsured). MHDO is a partner with HCUP and sends to HCUP the MHDO hospital inpatient data set in order for Maine to be included in these analyses.

November 2016 - Consumer Reports ranked MHDO’s website CompareMaine #2 in the country for stand-alone health care transparency websites.

Consumer Reports released a report in November titled Save Money and Get the Best Care from Your Health Plan-New Ratings Help Consumers Navigate Tools, Compare Cost and Quality of Doctors, Hospitals, and Services. Consumer Reports ranked MHDO’s website CompareMaine #2 in the country for stand-alone health care transparency websites. The websites were ranked in the following categories: Ease of use; functionality; content and scope and Reliability. A summary of the report can be found here: http://www.consumerreports.org/media-room/press-releases/2016/11/save_money_and_get_the_best_care_from_your_health_plan/

November 2016 - Copy of the final evaluation report of the Maine Patient Centered Medical Home Pilot 2010-2012 is now available.

The MHDO’s all payer claims data (APCD) was used to support the findings. A summary of findings are listed in the first couple of pages of the executive summary.

July 26, 2016 2016 Report Card - Maine One of Three States to Recieve an A

The 2016 Report Card on State Price Transparency Laws developed by the Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute (HCI3) and Catalyst for Payment Reform (CPR), gave 43 states an F for failing to meet even minimum standards. Only three states – Maine, New Hampshire, and Colorado– received an A for providing detailed pricing on a variety of procedures through easy-to-use public websites, backed by rich data sources. See the full report.

June 20, 2016 Maine Quality Forum releases On-Line training tool on infection prevention

The new training tool is an on-line, eight-hour curriculum designed for infection preventionists working in Maine’s extended care facilities. The curriculum is divided into five stand-alone modules including: general infection control and prevention practices; common infectious diseases; isolation/transmission precautions, surveillance and data collection; performance Improvement, and antibiotic stewardship. A certificate is issued upon completion of all modules. The training can be accessed at: http://maineinfectionpreventionforum.org. The MQF will use feedback from users and emerging trends to update the training periodically. The MQF is also investigating the future possibility of providing continuing education credits (CEUs) to those who successfully complete the training

December 14, 2015 DHHS Newly Created SIM Core Measures Dashboard

After two years of ambitious work led by Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services to improve health, enhance patient experience and reduce healthcare costs, the public can now review trend data on a number of important measures to evaluate progress made toward meeting these goals. The newly created SIM Core Measures dashboard shows trends on core healthcare measures selected by a statewide group of healthcare leaders working on the SIM initiative. The dashboard report compares information from patients whose services are paid for by MaineCare, Medicare, or Commercial insurance. Measures include emergency department use, 30 day hospital readmissions, use of imaging studies for low back pain, developmental screenings for children in the first three years of life, and use of diabetic screenings. See the dashboard report today.