The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has prepared a public data set, the Skilled Nursing Facility Utilization and Payment Public Use File (herein referred to as “Skilled Nursing Facility PUF”), with information on services provided to Medicare beneficiaries residing in skilled nursing facilities. The Skilled Nursing Facility PUF contains information on utilization, payment (allowed amount, Medicare payment and standard payment), and submitted charges organized by CMS Certification Number (6-digit provider identification number), Resource Utilization Group (RUG), and state of service. This PUF is based on information from CMS’s Chronic Conditions Data Warehouse (CCW) data files. The data in the Skilled Nursing Facility PUF covers calendar year 2014 and contains 100% final-action (i.e., all claim adjustments have been resolved) skilled nursing facility institutional claims for the Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) population.
Although the Skilled Nursing Facility PUF has a wealth of payment and utilization information about skilled nursing facility services, the dataset also has a number of limitations. The information presented in this file does not indicate the quality of care provided by individual skilled nursing facilities. The file only contains cost and utilization information. Additionally, the data are not risk adjusted and thus do not account for differences in the underlying severity of disease of patient populations treated by providers. For additional limitations, please review the methodology document available in the About tab.
