Medicare provider payment and utilization public use files
Three new (as of May 2025) updates from Medicare can help journalists writing about Medicare-covered services and procedures, prescribing information by individual physicians, and how Medicare services and use vary across the U.S. The files now include data for calendar year 2023:
- The Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners datasets provide information on services and procedures provided to Medicare FFS beneficiaries by physicians and other healthcare professionals.
- The Medicare Part D Prescriber datasets provide information on prescription drugs prescribed by individual physicians and other healthcare professionals and paid for under the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug program.
Medicare fee-for-service geographic variation public use files and interactive dashboard
The Medicare Fee-for-service (FFS) Geographic Variation Public Use Files and Interactive Dashboard contain updated spending and quality indicator data for the Medicare FFS population for calendar year 2023. The Medicare FFS Geographic Variation Public Use Files includes demographic, spending, utilization, and total standardized per capita spending data for calendar years 2007–2023 at the state and county levels and breakdowns for beneficiaries under 65 and 65 and older. The Interactive Dashboard contains a subset of this information, with data available for calendar years 2019–2023.
Additionally, CMS has released its CMS Fast Facts annual update, a quick reference statistical summary with information on Medicare and Medicaid enrollment, utilization, expenditures, as well as Medicare provider counts. This update includes data for years 2022-2025.