The CMS has unveiled new data sets searchable by the public to better track provider availability and utilization of certain services by Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries.
Individuals can now track the availability and use of services provided to Medicare beneficiaries by ground ambulance suppliers and home-health agencies, as well as a list of Medicare fee-for-service providers and suppliers currently approved to bill Medicare.
The provider and utilization tool sets include interactive maps and a data set that shows national-, state- and county-level provider and supplier services and how much they are used. The data also allows consumers to access and validate provider and supplier information against Medicare data.
The new tools come as part of a CMS effort to be more transparent and publicly share what services are available to Medicare beneficiaries and who can provide them, it said in a news release Monday.
The new databases were created in part using ground ambulance and home-health agency paid claims data that reside in CMS systems for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries from Oct. 1, 2014, to Sept. 30, 2015. The data will continue to be updated quarterly. Information is available for each of the 50 states, their counties and the District of Columbia.
The public provider data consist of individual and organizational provider and supplier enrollment information and includes names, national provider identifier and other unique identifiers, enrollment type, specialty, and limited address information such as place of residence.
