Medicare COVID-19 Hospitalization Trends
The Medicare COVID-19 Hospitalization Trends dataset contains aggregate information from Medicare Fee-for-Service claims, Medicare Advantage encounter, and Medicare enrollment data.
Freshness
- Last posted
- Period covered
- Jan 1, 2023 to Dec 31, 2023
- Update frequency
- Annually
Dates as CMS lists them in its catalog.
Columns 19
| Column | What it means | Type |
|---|---|---|
YearYear | Identifies the year in which the COVID-19 hospitalization occurred. | string |
MonthMonth | Identifies the month in which the COVID-19 hospitalization occurred. Data aggregated at the biannual level are identified by "First half" and "Second half". Data aggregated at the year level are identified by "Overall". | string |
Geography DescriptionBene_Geo_Desc | The data is aggregated to the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, and a “Territories” category (all other outlying areas of the US). The state of the beneficiary is based on mailing address. If a beneficiary’s state of residence is unknown, the beneficiary is assigned to the “Missing Data” category. Data aggregated at the National level are identified by "National'. | string |
Beneficiary Medicare Enrollment DescriptionBene_Mdcd_Mdcr_Enrl_Stus | Identifies whether a beneficiary is eligible for Medicare only or is enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid. A beneficiary who was enrolled at any time in Medicare and Medicaid simultaneously during the snapshot time period are considered Dual Medicare and Medicaid. A beneficiary enrolled in Medicare alone is Medicare Only. Please note that for beneficiaries enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid, only claims and encounters covered by Medicare are included in this data. | string |
Beneficiary Race/Ethnicity DescriptionBene_Race_Desc | The race/ethnicity classifications are: American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN), White, Black/African American, Asian/ Pacific Islander, Hispanic, and Other/Unknown. In the snapshot, a beneficiary’s race/ethnicity is created by taking the beneficiary race code that has historically been used by the Social Security Administration and applying an algorithm that improves the race/ethnicity classification. This algorithm was developed by the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) and is thus often referred to as the “RTI race code”. | string |
Beneficiary Sex DescriptionBene_Sex_Desc | A beneficiary’s sex is available from the CMS enrollment database and is classified as Male/Female. | string |
Beneficiary Medicare Entitlement StatusBene_Mdcr_Entlmt_Stus | The data is aggregated to the beneficiary's type of Medicare entitlement: Aged, Disabled, and those with end stage renal disease (ESRD). Medicare entitlement can change over time. For purposes of this reporting, beneficiaries who at any time during the snapshot time period had ESRD, were Aged with ESRD or were Disabled with ESRD are classified as ESRD; otherwise beneficiaries are classified as Disabled or Aged. | string |
Beneficiary Age DescriptionBene_Age_Desc | A beneficiary’s age is measured at the end of the year during which they had a hospitalization, or at the time when the beneficiary died. | string |
Beneficiary Rural/Urban StatusBene_RUCA_Desc | Rural/Urban status is defined using the beneficiary’s mailing ZIP code and the Rural Urban Commuting Area Crosswalk (RUCA). The RUCA crosswalk relies on commuting data from the US Census, as well as ZIP Codes to define Rural and Urban locations. | string |
Total COVID-19 HospitalizationsTotal_Hosp | A count of stays with a diagnosis of COVID-19 on a claim or encounter record for an inpatient hospital setting. Hospitalizations are counted in the month in which the stay began. | number |
Total Medicare EnrollmentTotal_Enrl | The total Medicare Population with Part A insurance. | number |
Total Medicare COVID-19 Hospitalizations per 100,000Total_Hosp_Per100K | The rate of Medicare COVID-19 hospitalizations per 100,000 is calculated by taking Medicare COVID-19 Hospitalizations divided by the Medicare Population with Part A insurance, expressed as per 100,000. | number |
Avg_LOSAvg_LOS | number | |
Percent Discharged to SNFPct_Dschrg_SNF | The percent of Medicare COVID-19 hospitalizations that ended with a discharge status to a Skilled Nursing Facility. | number |
Percent Discharged to ExpiredPct_Dschrg_Expired | The percent of Medicare COVID-19 hospitalizations that ended with the beneficiary expiring. | number |
Percent Discharged to HomePct_Dschrg_Home | The percent of Medicare COVID-19 hospitalizations that ended with a discharge status to the beneficiary's home or assisted living/nursing home. | number |
Percent Discharged to HospicePct_Dschrg_Hspc | The percent of Medicare COVID-19 hospitalizations that ended with a discharge status to a hospice. | number |
Percent Discharged to Home HealthPct_Dschrg_HomeHealth | The percent of Medicare COVID-19 hospitalizations that ended with a discharge status to home health. | number |
Percent Discharged to Other/UnknownPct_Dschrg_Other | The percent of Medicare COVID-19 hospitalizations that ended with a discharge status of not covered by the categories above. In 2020, 6.79% of hospitalizations had an Other discharge status as did 6.82% of hospitalizations in 2021. The top three discharge status codes in this category are: inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF); long term care hospital (LTCH); and short term general hospital. | number |
No column matches that filter.
At a glance
- Catalog
- data.cms.gov
- Publisher
- Office of Enterprise Data and Analytics (OEDA)
- Rows
- 62,702
- Columns
- 19
- State column
- None found
API
Free, no key needed. This request returns the first 10 rows as JSON:
https://data.cms.gov/data-api/v1/dataset/2684c3e2-3598-4997-a598-0991bad6fbf2/data?size=10
Versions 2
The newest version is the one linked above. Older releases stay on the official site.
- 2023-12-31posted Jan 29, 2024
- 2022-12-01posted Jan 16, 2024
CMS's description
The Medicare COVID-19 Hospitalization Trends dataset contains aggregate information from Medicare Fee-for-Service claims, Medicare Advantage encounter, and Medicare enrollment data. It provides insight around the groups of beneficiaries that were hospitalized at different points during the pandemic. CMS publicly released the first Preliminary Medicare COVID-19 Snapshot in June 2020 during the early stages of the Public Health Emergency for COVID-19. That report focused on COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations data for Medicare beneficiaries with a COVID-19 diagnosis. Throughout 2020 and 2021, that report was subsequently updated with refreshed data 13 times. Beginning in October 2021, CMS shifted its public COVID-19 reporting away from cumulative case and hospitalization rates to hospitalization trends over time with the release of this report, the Medicare COVID-19 Hospitalization Trends Report. All prior releases of both the Preliminary Medicare COVID-19 Snapshot and the Medicare COVID-19 Hospitalization Trends Report are available for download in the Medicare COVID-19 Data - Prior Releases file.
Methodology and other documents from CMS:
The summary at the top is the first sentence of this description. Record id cms:2684c3e2-3598-4997-a598-0991bad6fbf2. This record as JSON.