HHS makes ownership data for all Medicare-certified hospitals publicly available

The Department of Health and Human Services today released on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services website detailed information on the ownership of more than 7,000 hospitals certified to participate in the Medicare program. The data elements include: 

• enrollment information such as organization name, type, practice location addresses (e.g., off campus), National Provider Identifier (NPI), CMS Certification Number (CCN);
• detailed information about each owner such as whether it is an organization or an individual and whether it is a direct owner or indirect owner (that is, there is at least one subsidiary between it and the provider); and
• a numerical associate ID for each owner to enable linkage to the enrollment file.

HHS said this is part of the agency’s transparency efforts, and the agency plans to analyze these data to identify ways to inform policy approaches that can improve competition in health care.  

The AHA is reviewing the announcement in more detail. Much of the data already is available from other sources.