CMS Releases New Post-Acute Care and Hospice Utilization and Payment Data

Today, CMS posted the first annual release of the Post-Acute Care and Hospice Utilization and Payment Public Use Files (PAC PUF) with data for 2017. The PAC PUF replaces the Home Health, Hospice, and SNF Utilization and Payment PUFs released in past years. The PAC PUF has a number of improvements over these earlier files including data for inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRF) and long-term care hospitals (LTCH), a number of new metrics, and standardized metrics across all PAC and hospice settings.

This release includes summarized information on nearly 16 million claims and over $74 billion in Medicare payments for 2017. It contains information on demographic and clinical characteristics of beneficiaries served, professional and paraprofessional service utilization, submitted charges, and payments at the provider, state, and national levels. Additionally, the PUF includes payment information at the payment system level for home health agencies, SNFs, and IRFs.

Click here for more information, and to view the PAC PUF data.