Using the Carrier and Outpatient Files

This video is one segment in a series of videos from ResDAC’s Introduction to using Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) Data for Research.

The Carrier file contains claims submitted by non-institutional providers such as physicians, nurse practitioners, clinical laboratories, ambulance services, suppliers and stand-alone ambulatory surgical centers. The Outpatient file contains claims submitted by hospitals for non-inpatient care, including emergency room visits and other outpatient radiology and surgeries.

This presentation reviews specific variables useful for research files, examples include:

• dates of services
• services provided (HCPCS and modifiers)
• payment and charges for services
• the provider of services (NPI, Specialty codes)

The Carrier and Outpatient files contain some overlapping information, and this presentation clarifies the similarities and differences between the files.