On April 9, officials at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released an unprecedented amount of data detailing the payments made to more than 880,000 physicians and other health care providers.
The searchable files released by CMS include the provider name, address, specialty, and National Provider Identifier, as well as Medicare charges submitted and allowed and total Medicare payment for the year.
The data dump was harshly criticized by the American Medical Association, which said that the government had not given physicians a chance to review and correct their data. The data also lack context about quality of care, patient population, and site of service, the AMA said.
"Thoughtful observers concluded long ago that payments or costs were not the only metric to evaluate medical care," Dr. Ardis Dee Hoven, president of the AMA, said in a statement. "Quality, value, and outcomes are critical yardsticks for patients. The information released by CMS will not allow patients or payers to draw meaningful conclusions about the value or quality of care."
CMS will hold a press conference on the data dump on April 9. For more information on how to manage this new development in your practice, visit this website later this afternoon.
meschneider@frontlinemedcom.com
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