Administrative Requirements for Section 6071 of the DRA (CMS-10249)

Mathematica Policy Research

OVERVIEW AND FILE LAYOUT FOR QUARTERLY MFP PROGRAM
PARTICIPATION DATA FILE
Overview
The MFP Program Participation Data File will allow Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
(MPR), the national program evaluator, to track enrollment patterns in your program at a greater
level of precision than what can be done using data from the MFP Finders File. In addition, the
MFP Program Participation Data File includes information that cannot be obtained from any
other data system. This information includes the exact dates of program participation, the reason
why participation ended, reason for reinstitutionalization, types of qualified institution or
community residence, and whether the MFP participant lives with family members. MPR will
use this information to improve the precision of the data they use for the evaluation to describe
the populations transitioned and to include in statistical models to measure program impacts.
The data elements that make up the MFP Program Participation Data File were originally
part of the Quality of Life survey. Because the data elements in the file must be tracked for each
MFP participant, whether or not the participant responses to the Quality of Life survey, we
decided to separate these data elements from the Quality of Life survey and ask grantees to
submit this information in a separate file.
File Content
The Quarterly MFP Program Participation Data File will include one record for each person
in the MFP demonstration during the quarter represented by the data. The file needs to include a
record for any person who participated in the MFP program for one or more days during the
quarter represented by the data. If someone does not have a single day of participation during
the quarter, then the quarterly file should not include a record for that person.
Tables 1 and 2 present the file layout for the Quarterly MFP Program Participation Data
File. Table 1 presents the layout for the header record, which contains file identification
information. Values for the data elements in Table 1 can be found in the Medicaid Statistical
Information System (MSIS) Tape Specifications and Data Dictionary, Release 3 located at
http://www.cms.gov/MSIS/. The values for those data elements that do not appear in this
reference are in the footnotes to Table 1.
Table 2 presents the layout for the individual records in the file. The MSIS identification
number, the social security number (SSN), and the Medicare health insurance claim (HIC)
number will be the key identifiers MPR will use to link the records from this file with records
from other files. MPR will use gender and date of birth to verify the matches between the MFP
Program Participation Data File and other files, including the MFP Finders File or Medicaid
claims records. Values for the first seven data elements can be found in the Medicaid Statistical
Information System (MSIS) Tape Specifications and Data Dictionary, Release 3 located at
http://www.cms.gov/MSIS/. The values for the other data elements in Table 2 are included in
this document and follow the tables. The file layout allows for six separate enrollment periods to
accommodate people whose participation in MFP is interrupted and does not occur over 365
consecutive days. Regardless of whether participation in the MFP program is interrupted, the

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information reported in the quarterly file must reflect the participant’s status and information
during the quarter. Below are several examples to help guide the construction of this file.
• Current MFP participant with no breaks in participation. If an MFP participant has
never had his or her MFP participation in the program suspended or terminated, then
the program participation start date, type of qualified institution, type of qualified
residence, and whether or not he or she lives with family members should be recorded
in the Enrollment Period 1 data fields. This information should be maintained in the
records reported in subsequent files until the person disenrolls and does not have a
single day of MFP eligibility during the quarter. Information should only be updated
between files when the information changes, such as when someone moves to a
different type of qualified residence.
• Current MFP participant with breaks in participation. If a current MFP participant
had experienced a previous interruption in his or her enrollment in the MFP program
(which may occur when the person has a short-term institutional stay), then the
program participation start date, type of qualified institution, type of qualified
residence, and whether or not he or she lives with family members should be recorded
in Enrollment Period 2 data fields (or data fields for a later enrollment period if the
person had more than one interruption in participation).
• MFP participant whose participation ends during the quarter. If someone’s MFP
participation ends during the quarter, then the program participation start and end
dates, qualified institution and residence, and reason participation ended should be
recorded in the appropriate enrollment period data fields. For example, enrollment
period 1 data fields should contain the actual start and end dates, qualified institution
and residence, and reason participation ended if it is the first time the person has left
the program. Enrollment period 3 data fields should contain the most current
information if it is the third time someone has left the program. If participation ends
because the person was reinstitutionalized, then the reason for the
reinstitutionalization should also be recorded in the data fields for the appropriate
enrollment period. In subsequent quarterly files, a record for this person is only
included when the person reenrolls in the MFP program.
Submission Process
Each grantee will submit this file 45 days after the end of each federal fiscal quarter
beginning with the first quarter of program implementation.
Quarterly files are due February 15, May 15, August 15, and November 15 of each year. The
file will be sent by the Gentran system. Instructions for the submission of files are posted on the
MFP Resource Center (http://www.mfp-tac.com).

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Table 1. File Layout for Header Record in the Quarterly Money Follows the Person (MFP) Program
Participation Data File
Field Name
File-Name
File-Status-Indicator
Filler
State-Abbreviation
Date-File-Created
Start-of-Time-Period
End-of-Time-Period
Filler

Type

Type of Field

Length

Header
Header
Header
Header
Header
Header
Header
Header

Alphanumeric
Alphanumeric
Alphanumeric
Alphanumeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Alphanumeric

8
1
2
2
8
8
8
243

Source:

Medicaid Statistical Information System (MSIS) Tape Specifications and Data Dictionary,
Release 3.

Note:

Values for the data elements can be found in the Medicaid Statistical Information System
(MSIS) Tape Specifications and Data Dictionary, Release 3. The first data record of each
MFP Program Participation Data File will be a header record, which will contain file
identification information required for accurate validation of the file. This table summarizes the
fields in the header file record in the order in which fields will be processed. Every header
record field must contain valid data.

File-Name = guid.NONE.MFP.Q.Gxx.DATESMFP.z
guid = the Gentran user identification number of the person(s) with rights to submit these files
xx = the state’s two letter abbreviation (for example, MO = Missouri).
z = either a T for a test file or a P for a non-test file (production file).
Use all capital letters in the file names as indicated above.
Grantees may submit test files before submitting final files for the evaluation. For test files replace the z
with a T. For files you wish MPR to use in its work replace the z with a P.

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Table 2. File Layout for the Quarterly Money Follows the Person (MFP) Program Participation Data File
Field Name

Type of Field

Field Length

Default Error Tolerancea

MSIS-Identification-Numberb
Date-of-birthb
Sex-codeb
Social-Security-Numberb
Federal-Fiscal-Year-Quarterb
HIC-Numberb
MSIS-Case-Numberb
Filler

Alphanumeric
Numeric
Alphanumeric
Numeric
Numeric
Alphanumeric
Alphanumeric
Alphanumeric

20
8
1
9
5
12
12
9

0.1%
0.1%
2.0%
2.0%
0.1%
5.0%
0.1%

Enrollment Period 1c:
Enrollment-Start-Date
Enrollment-End-Date
Reason-Participation-Ended
Reinstitutionalized-Reason
Qualified-Institution
Qualified-Residence
Lives-with-Family
Filler

Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Alphanumeric

8
8
2
2
2
2
2
8

Enrollment Period 2c:
Enrollment-Start-Date
Enrollment-End-Date
Reason-Participation-Ended
Reinstitutionalized-Reason
Qualified-Institution
Qualified-Residence
Lives-with-Family
Filler

Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Alphanumeric

8
8
2
2
2
2
2
8

Enrollment Period 3c:
Enrollment-Start-Date
Enrollment-End-Date
Reason-Participation-Ended
Reinstitutionalized-Reason
Qualified-Institution
Qualified-Residence
Lives-with-Family
Filler

Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Alphanumeric

8
8
2
2
2
2
2
8

Enrollment Period 4c:
Enrollment-Start-Date
Enrollment-End-Date
Reason-Participation-Ended
Reinstitutionalized-Reason
Qualified-Institution
Qualified-Residence
Lives-with-Family
Filler

Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Alphanumeric

8
8
2
2
2
2
2
8

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Table 2 (continued)
Field Name

Type of Field

Field Length

Enrollment Period 5c:
Enrollment-Start-Date
Enrollment-End-Date
Reason-Participation-Ended
Reinstitutionalized-Reason
Qualified-Institution
Qualified-Residence
Lives-with-Family
Filler

Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Alphanumeric

8
8
2
2
2
2
2
8

Enrollment Period 6c:
Enrollment-Start-Date
Enrollment-End-Date
Reason-Participation-Ended
Reinstitutionalized-Reason
Qualified-Institution
Qualified-Residence
Lives-with-Family
Filler

Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Numeric
Alphanumeric

8
8
2
2
2
2
2
8

Note:

Default Error Tolerancea

This table summarizes the fields in the Quarterly MFP Program Participation Data File in the
order in which they physically occur in each record.

a

The error tolerance describes, for each field, the maximum allowable percentage of records submitted
that may have missing, unknown, or invalid codes.

b

Values for these data elements can be found in the Medicaid Statistical Information System (MSIS) Tape
Specifications and Data Dictionary, Release 3.

c

Values for the enrollment period portion of the file appear on the following pages.

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DATA DICTIONARY
Enrollment Start Date
Date MFP participation began
Date must be in CCYYMMDD format
Enrollment End Date
Date MFP participation ended
Date must be in CCYYMMDD format
Reason participation ended
Completed 365 days of participation 01
Suspended eligibility ........................02
Reinstitutionalized ............................03
Died ..................................................04
Moved ...............................................05
No longer needed services ................06
Other .................................................07
If reinstitutionalized, reason for reinstitutionalization
Acute care hospitalization followed by long term rehabilitation ...........01
Deterioration in cognitive functioning ...................................................02
Deterioration in health ............................................................................03
Deterioration in mental health ................................................................04
Loss of housing .......................................................................................05
Loss of personal care giver .....................................................................06
By request of participant or guardian .....................................................07
Lack of sufficient community services ...................................................08
Type of qualified institution at the time of transition to the community
Nursing facility .................................01
ICF/MR .............................................02
IMD ..................................................03
Other .................................................04

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Type of qualified residence at the end of the quarter or the end of the enrollment period
if MFP eligibility ends during the quarter
Home owned by participant ......................................01
Home owned by family member ..............................02
Apartment leased by participant, not assisted living 03
Apartment leased by participant, assisted living ......04
Group home of no more than 4 people .....................05
Participant lives with family members
Yes ....................................................01
No .....................................................02

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