How the Data Can Be Sliced and Diced
In an example of how the public can geographically compare the use of Medicare services, CMS reported that the highest rate of office visits in 2013 — more than seven per Medicare beneficiary — occurred in Florida, New Jersey, New York, and Tennessee. The states with the lowest rate — four or fewer visits per beneficiary — were Alaska, Idaho, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Vermont.
The availability of 2 years’ worth of payment data opens the door for trend analysis. For example, office visits per beneficiary in 2013 decreased by more than 10% in South Dakota, the biggest drop in the nation. Massachusetts posted the biggest growth in office visits per beneficiary, with a more than 5% increase.
Robert Wah, MD, the president of the American Medical Association, credited CMS with separating Part B drugs from physician services in the latest payment data, “thus eliminating the misleading perception that drug reimbursement was physician income.”
However, the payment data still have “significant shortcomings,” Dr Wah said in a news release, because it does not shed any light on the quality of care.
“It also does not provide enough context to prevent the types of inaccuracies, misinterpretations and false assertions that occurred the last time the administration released Part B claims data.”
More information on the Medicare payment data made public is available on the CMS website
