The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released its first physician payment data set to the public Wednesday, closing the American Medical Association’s 35-year fight to keep this information private.
As noted by multiple news outlets, the stunner is how few doctors are responsible for major amounts of Medicare billing.
Among the facts Modern Healthcare culled from the 9.2 million lines of data: 880,000 doctors billed for $77 billion worth of Medicare services, with the most common charges being $70 and $100 office visits.
Bloomberg was drawn in by data connected to two opthalmologists who billed about $30 million in services. Both clinicians have been spending time in courts fighting allegations of fraud.
The New York Times did its own number crunching and found that 2% of doctors take in about 25% of Medicare billings.
