Data Collection FAQs

Valence Health is a data management company that has been contracted to support the Clinical Integration initiatives. Valence has a software application, vReplicator that will be installed on your Practice Management system to collect billing data. This data will be used to generate reports that measure physician compliance with clinical protocols.

After selecting a day and time that is convenient for your practice, a Valence technical representative will call to establish a remote connection to one of your computers and install the vReplicator application. Valence will work with your practice to select a computer that is connected to the one that hosts your PM system data.

Valence’s data collection tool is a self-contained, read-only application, and does not alter any of your data or data structures. Valence has been using the data collection tool for over 6 years and has never experienced corruption of data or a system crash as a result of installing the application.

No. After the vReplicator tool is installed, Valence cannot access your PM system. They will receive data from your system through “push” technology. Valence will be able to determine if vReplicator is functioning as expected.

The initial installation and file transfer process can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the speed of your connection and system.

Someone in your office will need to be available to work with Valence to establish the remote connection to your system, but will not have to remain on the phone with them for the entire installation process.

The data being collected from the practice management system using vReplicator are many of the data fields included on a CMS 1500 form/claim submission. The specific data elements captured are noted below; financial information (billed charges, paid amounts) is NOT collected. 

Provider information including: 

• Provider NPI (National Provider Identifier)
• Provider Tax ID
• Provider Last Name
• Provider First Name

Patient Demographics including: 

•  Patient SSN
• Patient Phone Number
• Patient Date of Birth
• Patient Sex
• Patient Last Name
• Patient First Name
• Patient Middle Initial
• Patient Address 1
• Patient Address 2
• Patient City
• Patient State
• Patient Zip Code
• Patient Death Flag
• Patient Death Date 

Service information including:

• Date of Service
• Diagnosis Codes (ICD-9)
• Procedure Codes (CPT-4; CPT II)
• Procedure Modifiers

Data will be pushed to Valence on a monthly basis. At the time of the initial installation, a historical data file (prior 18 - 24 months) will also be collected.

Yes. Data is collected for all patients, regardless of the payer. This is in keeping with the basic tenets of Clinical Integration and to facilitate care management of patients across the population. It also facilitates tracking of care when the patient changes insurance, which can occur quite often.

CPP cannot and will not use this information to track referral patterns, analyze a practice’s market share or track utilization by payer. Those activities do not support the goals and objectives of the Quality Alliance Clinical Integration program.

Valence uses the highest level of security and encryption on the data file that is pushed to them each month. Even if the file were intercepted, no one would be able to unscramble the encryption without the required “unlocking” codes. This is compliant with the HIPAA standards.

In addition, all the patient data received by Valence is maintained on servers in a secure, off-site data center which is SAS70 certified. Valence maintains a comprehensive Business Continuation and Disaster Recovery plan in the unlikely event of a catastrophic event.

Valence will aggregate data for CPP physicians, and generate compliance reports as part of the Quality Alliance Clinical Integration program. The data will also be used to support quality and performance improvement activities and the enhancement of patient care.

Of course, Valence will have access to the data for reporting purposes. In compliance with HIPAA regulations, Valence will not share the data with any other unauthorized entities.

The CPP Quality Committee will have access to organization level, aggregated compliance reports with drill-down capabilities to practice and physician level information. CPP will not have access to any patient-specific information.

Physicians will have access to reports related to their own performance with comparison to peer groups. A physician cannot see another physician’s performance information. Physician performance reports have drill-down capabilities to patient specific details. A physician can only access information about patients where there is an established treating relationship as evidenced by an encounter in the data warehouse.

Valence standards for sharing data are in compliance with HIPAA privacy regulations. In addition to HIPAA, some state statutes require more stringent protection of patient information related to sensitive health conditions, like HIV, mental retardation and genetic testing. Valence will work with CPP legal counsel to determine which conditions are included, and can partition the patient data so that only the physician who has seen the patient for that sensitive condition can see the information.

Ensure that your internet connection is established and the computer that vReplicator was installed on is left on overnight or at the scheduled time. If for some reason, the program doesn’t run at the scheduled time due to loss of power or failed internet connection, vReplicator will run as soon after its scheduled time when power or the internet is restored.

Yes. Valence’s vReplicator tool has an automatic scheduler. Valence will set up the data collection to occur at a time that is convenient for your practice.

Yes. It is critical that the internet connection is in place or the data transfer cannot occur. High speed internet (cable, DSL, T1) is required for transmission; dial-up connections are not sufficient to accommodate file size.

If you change your practice management system, upgrade your PM software, or replace the computer hosting the vReplicator software, you will need to notify us as soon as possible.