Surprises, Disappointments, Confirmations, and Puzzles.
Most would agree, that transparency and accountability are in general, desirable. It does not necessarily follow however, that disclosure of previously hidden, obscure, or obtuse information arrives free of embarrassment for some or confusion for others. So it is with the recent unprecedented release by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of the volume and cost of many of the services provided to some Medicare beneficiaries. Bothe the professional and lay media is fully energized with attempts to explain, excuse, or otherwise draw meaning from this voluminous and difficult-to-embrace set of data. Frankly, I have been rewarded with both surprise and disappointment, and with the satisfaction of solving puzzles. Clearly there is information here that both the professional and lay public must address if we are to benefit from a fair, effective, and efficient system of healthcare.
Ranking of Provider Types and Payments.
As a first step, I have broken down the 9+ million-item database by type of provider. There are 89 different types identified. (View the list here.) I attach 4 different PDF documents summarizing the same data in different views sorted by provider type, the number of individual providers in each provider type, the aggregate Medicare payments to each type, and the average payment for each provider of a given type. Please remember that there are many caveats attached to this data that must necessarily limit the conclusions that might be drawn. These are discussed by me in earlier articles of this series, and by others. Be that as it may, the view from 40,000 feet is instructive and shows us where to target more detailed analysis. Continue reading “Medicare Payments to Physicians and Other Providers: Analysis by Type of Provider.”