Coverage and freshness

See which kinds of public evidence OpenHealth shows, what this release covers and how old each source is.

Four kinds of evidence

Each record on OpenHealth belongs to one evidence level. A higher level is not a better provider. It is a different kind of fact.

Evidence levelWhat it showsWhat it does not show

Directory listingA clinician or group appears in the CMS directory with a specialty and an office address.The directory does not show results, current practice, appointments or insurance acceptance.

Procedure experienceCMS counts how often a clinician performed a procedure category for Medicare patients.A count describes experience. It is not an outcome or a quality score.

Reviewed outcomeA publisher reports a result for a defined population, procedure and period. OpenHealth shows it after checking the measure definition.The result does not predict your outcome. OpenHealth does not compare results from different sources, periods or entity levels.

Practice-confirmed accessThe practice confirms that it takes your plan, accepts new patients and performs the procedure at a location.OpenHealth cannot provide this level. Ask the practice and your insurer.

What this release covers

Outcome results stay with the entity the publisher measured: an individual clinician, a medical group or a hospital. A current office address does not move a historical result.

Loading release coverage.

Sources in this release

OpenHealth counts each source on its own. A clinician, group or facility that appears in two sources is counted in both, so source counts do not add up to a number of providers.

Choose an entity level to see which sources measured it and what each source adds to this release.

Procedures and measures

Search finds the procedures and measures in this release's reviewed catalog. Procedure experience topics are CMS procedure counts. Outcome topics are published results for a defined measure.

Locations

An office address helps you find a provider today. A historical result stays with the place and period that the publisher reported. OpenHealth does not move it to a current office.

Hospitals

The current release has no reviewed hospital outcomes. The Hospitals tab shows that reviewed results are missing. It does not mean there are no hospitals near you.

Hospital outcome sources appear in results only after their provider identities and measure definitions are checked.

New sources

New hospital, state and clinic sources appear with their own entity type and period. A state report about surgeons stays with the surgeons. A clinic result stays with the clinic.

OpenHealth does not merge sources into one score. Missing data is not zero, and a suppressed value stays suppressed.

Dates on OpenHealth

A source carries several dates. Each one answers a different question.

DateWhat it meansWhere to find it

Clinical periodThese dates identify the care that the publisher measured.The site shows these dates next to each result and in the source list below.

Source publishedThe date identifies when the publisher released the file or report.The source list below.

FetchedThe date identifies when OpenHealth downloaded the file.The source list below.

CheckedThe date identifies when OpenHealth last confirmed that the publisher had not changed the file.The source list below shows this date when it was recorded.

ReviewedThe date identifies when OpenHealth last validated the definition and display rules.The source list below shows this date when it was recorded.

Published to OpenHealthThe date identifies when the release went live on this site.The source list below shows this date when it was recorded.

Source dates

These dates come from the prepared source files published with this version of the site. Hosted search reads its own release. Its per-source dates will appear here when the release coverage file is published.

Loading release coverage.