Dive Brief:
- On Thursday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released the Referring Provider Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics and Supplies (DMEPOS) Public Use File data set.
- The data provide information on physicians and other providers who referred DMEPOS products and services, such as wheelchairs, walkers and diabetes supplies for Medicare beneficiaries.
- Created from CMS administrative claims data, the set includes information on payment (allowed amount and Medicare payment) and submitted charges organized by the National Provider Identifier.
Dive Insight:
“The data set made available…is part of a wider set of initiatives by the administration to achieve better care, smarter spending and healthier people throughout our healthcare system,” said Acting CMS Administrator Andrew Slavitt. “CMS is providing this data to support insight and innovations in healthcare delivery.”
According to a fact sheet provided by CMS, the number of referring providers for internal medicine was 87,197 and the average DMEPOS allowed amount for internal medicine was $29,954. The average DMEPOS allowed amount for family practice (81,605 referring providers) was $27,982. The largest average DMEPOS allowed amount was $156,021 for pulmonary disease (8,513 referring providers).
The data in the DMEPOS data set covers 2013 and is based on information from Part B non-institutional DMEPOS claims. These new data include information on over 385,000 providers who referred DMEPOS products in 2013. In total, the data represent over 100 million claims and $11 billion in Medicare allowed amounts.