Data Submission - Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS)

The SPARCS data submission system collects pre-adjudicated discharge data including, patient level characteristics, diagnoses and treatments, services, and charges for each hospital inpatient stay and outpatient (ambulatory surgery, emergency department, and outpatient services) visit; and each ambulatory surgery and outpatient services visit to a hospital extension clinic and diagnostic and treatment center licensed to provide ambulatory surgery services.

SPARCS Intake and Compliance Knowledge Center and Ticketing System

The SPARCS Intake and Compliance Programs have transitioned to a new ticket-based system to enhance the ability to track and respond to inquiries. The SPARCS Intake and Compliance page has two components, the Knowledge Center and a ticketing system. The Knowledge Center holds frequently asked questions and articles regarding SPARCS submissions and compliance. The ticketing system includes submitter provisioning, changes in SPARCS contacts or coordinators, Hospital Owned Data requests, requests to receive compliance exceptions and extensions, and general SPARCS policy questions.

Starting 08/01/2026, all intake and compliance requests (updates to contact information, requests for provisioning, exception and extension requests, non-compliance notices, questions about deadlines, etc.) must be submitted through the SPARCS Intake and Compliance ticketing system. This new SPARCS Intake and Compliance ticketing system does not replace the Optum Help Desk (877-545-0011) for SPARCS Portal support, technical issues, or claim rejection reports. Requests for SPARCS data for research are handled through a separate ticketing system that can be accessed here .

View the SPARCS Intake and Compliance page here: SPARCS Intake and Compliance.

SPARCS Submitter Forum

The SPARCS Program hosts quarterly webinars to provide updates and educational information to SPARCS data submitters. Each submitter forum concludes with a Q&A session for attendees to ask questions about SPARCS data submissions to the SPARCS Operations Team. Additional information on data submission can be found on our Knowledge Center.

Active Presentation Slides and Summary of Questions

Data Submission System Overview

Data Submission Help Desk

  • Dedicated Phone Number for SPARCS Submissions: 877-545-0011 Please mention that you are calling for SPARCS and provide your PFI
  • SPARCS Portal: SPARCS Portal; select Client Self-Service Portal under the Help Center dropdown

Vendor Agreement

Resources

The materials below are for your reference. If there are materials that you may need that you do not see here, please e-mail us at sparcs.submissions@health.ny.gov.