The 2010 Chronic Conditions PUF is an aggregated file in which each record is a profile or cell defined by the characteristics of Medicare beneficiaries. A profile is defined by all combinations of age category, gender, various chronic conditions, and dual-eligibility status of the beneficiaries. Hence, the number of rows (or records) in the CMS 2008 Chronic Conditions PUF represents the number of unique profiles in the Medicare population. For each profile many claim-related variables are provided in the form of averages.
The CMS 2008 Chronic Conditions PUF represents 100% of the Medicare beneficiaries provided in the 100% Beneficiary Summary File for reference year 2008. The 100% Beneficiary Summary File is created annually and contains demographic, entitlement and enrollment data for beneficiaries who were: documented as being alive for some part of the reference year of the Beneficiary Summary File, are entitled to Medicare benefits during the reference year, and enrolled in Medicare Part A and/or Part B for at least one month in the reference year.