CMS releases updated data on geographic variation in the Medicare program

Connecting People With Data

CMS has posted the annual release of the Geographic Variation Public Use File and dashboards with data for 2018. The Geographic Variation Public Use File is a series of downloadable tables and reports that contain demographic, spending, utilization, and quality indicators for the Medicare fee-for-service population. It presents data at the state-level (including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands), hospital referral region (HRR)-level, and county-level. For 2018, the PUF includes data for 33.5 million Medicare beneficiaries and $357.8 billion in Medicare costs. This public use file is available from the CMS website and can be downloaded at: https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/Medicare-Geographic-Variation/GV_PUF.html. All of the above data assets are also catalogued on Healthdata.gov:  http://www.healthdata.gov/dataset/search The Data Navigator development team welcomes your feedback. Write to us at DataNavigator@cms.hhs.gov.