Hospital Service Area File
Guidance for the Hospital Service Area file, which is a summary of calendar year Medicare inpatient hospital fee-for-service claims data. It contains the number of discharges, total days of care, and total charges summarized by hospital provider number and the ZIP code of the Medicare beneficiary.
Issued by: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
Issue Date: July 07, 2020
Overview of File: The Hospital Service Area file is a summary of calendar year Medicare inpatient hospital fee-for-service claims data. It contains number of discharges, total days of care, and total charges summarized by hospital provider number and the ZIP code of the Medicare beneficiary. The record layout in the Downloads section below provides additional details on the file.
Data Availability: Downloadable and interactive versions of the Hospital Service Area File can be found here: https://data.cms.gov/provider-summary-by-type-of-service/medicare-inpatient-hospitals/hospital-service-area.
This file is produced annually and is typically available in May (i.e., data for CY2017 is usually available in May 2018). The first year of data available is 2015.
Approximate Size: 26 MB
Compatible Software Programs: Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL/DB2/Oracle, SAS or other statistical software. (Note: Microsoft Excel or TextPad cannot be used to analyze the HSAF file)
Note: As of October, 2020, values for Total Cases and Total Charges will be suppressed for rows with Total Cases less than 11.
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DISCLAIMER: The contents of this database lack the force and effect of law, except as authorized by law (including Medicare Advantage Rate Announcements and Advance Notices) or as specifically incorporated into a contract. The Department may not cite, use, or rely on any guidance that is not posted on the guidance repository, except to establish historical facts.