Healthcare Cost Report Information System (HCRIS) Data

Providers of service participating in the Medicare program are required to submit information to achieve settlement of costs relating to health care services rendered to Medicare beneficiaries [42 U.S.C. 1395g (section 1815(a) of the Social Security Act].

These SAS files, etc., were created by data@nber.org at the NBER to make access to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) Healthcare Cost Report Information System (HCRIS) data files easier. An example Stata extract code is also available. Some

• HCRIS Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF)
• HCRIS Renal Dialysis Facility
• HCRIS Hospice
• HCRIS Home Health Agency (HHA)
• HCRIS Health Clinic
• HCRIS Community Mental Health Center
• HCRIS Freestanding Federally Qualified Health Center

CMS provides HCRIS source data files and documentation such as the 2552-10 and 2552-96 instruction manual and worksheets.

CMS provides a 2552-96 to 2552-10 crosswalk and a list of cost coded worksheets. The text files in 2552-10 and 2552-96 may also be helpful in getting an idea of what lines are on each version of the worksheets. The text files in 2552-10 and 2552-96 should be helpful for getting an idea of what worksheet, column, and line combinations are on each version of the worksheets. Per the README, the 2552-96 lines are changed to the Cost Center Codes for the cost center coded worksheets. In 2552-10, the cost coded line numbers are not changed to cost codes. Instead, the cost center associated with each cost coded line number is described in the alphanumeric data file value for the report number where WKSHT_CD = "A000000" and CLMN_NUM = "00000". Another difference between 2552-96 and 2552-10 is that the column number variable was 4 columns wide in 2552-96 and 5 columns wide in 2552-10. So, for example, column 1 in 2552-96 is "0100" and "00100" in 2552-10.

CMS released 2552-96 bad debt files but not 2552-10. However, a 2552-10 bad debt bad debt rosetta stone is available.

Select variables from the cost reports is avaialble in the files below. One of the variables included is ZIP Code. A ZIP Code distance database is available.

Complete Data Files in a Long Shape

Select Variables in a Flat Shape

To get the worksheets that were completed to generate the cost report data, go to Paper-Based Manuals, choose Publication # 15-2 for the Provider Reimbursement Manual Part 2, then choose Chapter 36. R20P236F.zip in P152_36.zip has the 2552-96 worksheets A-M,S for "cost reporting periods ending on or after September 30, 1996" or Chapter 40 for "cost reports with fiscal years beginning on or after May 1, 2010"..

The layout for the way 2552-96 cost report data was delivered might be helpful for getting an idea of some of the variables in some of the worksheets.

The HCRIS data consists of four databases: one has alphanumeric variables, one has numeric variables, one has hospital report meta-variables, and one has many of the individual numeric variables "rolled up" into one variable.

Be careful when using both the rollup file or the numeric file with negative amounts. For some items, losses are to be recorded as (+amount). In the past, sometimes values get recorded as -amount instead. Check worksheet instructions and the data when there may be negative amounts.

The primary key linking these datasets is the report record number, RPT_REC_NUM. The hospital report database is an ordinary and small rectangular data file. The alphanumeric (A) and especially the numeric (N) databases are big, long, skinny files. The A & N files have all the HCRIS report variables for all fiscal years from 1996 on. They have five variables each: RPT_REC_NUM, WKSHT_CD, LINE_NUM, CLMN_NUM, and the value. Extract data from these files using the worksheet code, line number and column number. Worksheets have names like 255296_*.xls, where * is a letter, a through s. The rollup files have three variables: RPT_REC_NUM, LABEL which is a reasonble mnemonic variable name reflecting the worksheet code, line number, and column numbers that were rolled up, and ITEM which is the value.

A statistical or database package such SAS or Oracle, etc. , or a programming language that can handle large files is necessary to use the HCRIS data. The fyYEAR.zip files are about 100 Mb and can unzip to over 1 Gb.

The SAS datasets created by these programs can be converted to other formats using conversion software such as Stat/Transfer.

• Worksheet Name / Worksheet Code Crosswalk
• Rolled Up Variables and Variable Extraction
• SAS Programs
• Comparing HCRIS variable combinations to PPS

Updates and changes.
 

Healthcare Cost Report Information System (HCRIS)

The file below provides links between the seven-character worksheet codes, WKSHT_CD, used in the alphanumeric and numeric databases and descriptive labels. Over 1,300 codes are listed. For example,

A83P001 A-8-3, Part I Physical Therapy (h)

SAS-friendly versions are already available with the SAS programs below.

(Note to NBER internal users:  The first four programs have already been run. Begin by modifying the extract files to include specific variables of interest).

Users of the old Prospective Payment System PPS version of the hospital cost report data may wonder how PPS fields correspond to data extracted from HCRIS. The worksheet codes, column numbers, and line numbers from the most recent ( fiscal years 1996-1999 ) PPS files correspond exactly to the earliest 1996-1999 HCRIS files. Most PPS fields correspond to _exactly__one_ column and line on a 2552-96 worksheet. A few PPS fields, however, are the sum of multiple lines. The means files below are one way to check that HCRIS-extracted data corresponds to PPS fields. The match may not be exact, though. The HCRIS files have the most up-to-date cost report data for fiscal years 1996-1999. Frequecy tables of the character variables are included as well.