SEER-Medicaid Policies

The data owners (SEER registry PIs and CMS) hold NCI responsible for tracking the use and location of all released SEER-Medicaid data. In order to ensure that NCI is knowledgeable about how the data are being used, who is using the data and to avoid a change in scope, data retention, and data sharing are warranted.

Data Retention

The Data Use Agreement (DUA) (PDF, 175 KB) states the data retention time period is 5 years. If additional time is necessary to complete the approved project, investigators must request a one-year extension to the DUA. These extensions must be requested annually in order to proceed with the work. If more than 10 years has lapsed since data were initially received, investigators will need to submit a new application for review and approval. Without an approved extension, all SEER-Medicaid data must be destroyed.

Data Sharing

Investigators will be allowed to share data for approved projects with colleagues at their institute only if the data:

• pertain to the same cancer site and data years, and
• were purchased within the previous 2 years.

Please note that the data retention period for the shared data will commence from when the data for the initial project was received not when the request to share the data was submitted.