User documentation are available that provide information that may be helpful in understanding and analyzing the CCW data including descriptions of the CCW population, chronic condition definitions, and limitations of the data.

Technical guidance documentation is available to explain various methods for calculating population statistics using the CCW data and summary files. This documentation provides guidance to researchers on how to appropriately identify a study group based on clinical criteria (or a combination of clinical and coverage specifications), and define an appropriate denominator for rate calculations, if applicable.

White Papers are available that provide insight, information and considerations for CCW users when working with Medicare and/or Medicaid data. Topics include Medicare claims maturity; evaluating Medicaid service use.

Conference Presentations are available for CCW-related presentations from AcademyHealth Annual Research Meetings (ARM).

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) are also available covering topics such as:

  • how the CCW BENE_ID is assigned
  • differences between BENE_ID and Health Insurance Claim (HIC) number
  • using identifier crosswalks to link data
  • how researchers open a File Transfer Summary (FTS) document
  • guidance when using the Drug Characteristics file

For additional information related to the chronic condition flags or CCW data, please email ccwhelp@ccwdata.org.