Medicare Data on Provider Practice and Specialty (MD-PPAS)

The MD-PPAS file assigns Medicare providers to medical practices based on the tax identification numbers and elaborates on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provider specialty classification. This provider-level dataset is built around two identifiers: the national provider identifier (NPI) and the tax identification number (TIN).

What does this file include? (variable highlights)

  • The MD-PPAS contain data on specialty, TIN practice assignment, place of service information, provider demographics, geographic location, and summary Medicare utilization measures for over 1.2 million providers.
  • The MD-PPAS has been updated to version 2.4 from version 2.3 to reflect the following changes: 
    • The MD-PPAS data include a modified broad specialty variable that provides a more detailed breakdown of non-physician specialties.
    • The data also include two additional variables related to the percent of providers' line items that are performed in a given place of service (POS). Specifically, MD-PPAS data now include variables that report the percent of line items performed in urgent care centers and retail clinics.

Special considerations

  • The data use a new methodology to assign providers to CBSAs based on the zip code reported on their submitted claims. This change resulted in a small percentage of providers with different values for their CBSA code and type variable.

Availability of this file

Availability:

2008-2022

See what is in this file

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