Medicare Skilled Nursing Facility Utilization and Payments by Year and State

Program statistics from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services provide yearly trend data on Medicare skilled nursing facility utilization, program payments, and cost sharing. The data is segmented by beneficiary entitlement type, demographic characteristics, area of residence, facility type, bedsize, and state-level provider details. It includes distribution of covered days by Major Resource Utilization Groups (RUG-III) for specific years.

Use Cases

• Analyze yearly trends in program payments and cost sharing for Original Medicare beneficiaries by type of entitlement.
• Model utilization rates segmented by beneficiary demographic characteristics and Medicare-Medicaid enrollment status.
• Compare cost sharing and payment patterns by the area of residence of beneficiaries.
• Assess the distribution of Medicare covered skilled nursing facility days by state of provider and Major Resource Utilization Groups (RUG-III).

Strengths

• Data is provided by the authoritative U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
• Includes six distinct tables offering segmentation by year, demographics, geography, facility type, and resource utilization groups.
• Covers specific RUG-III versions from 2013 to 2018 for detailed resource use analysis.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, column details, and sample data are unavailable for assessing dataset scale and structure.
• The RUG-III distribution data is limited to versions from 2013-2018, which may not reflect current classification systems.
• Data is provided as a ZIP file without clear documentation on internal file formats or data schemas.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Collection Method

Administrative data collection from Medicare program records.

Time Range

Yearly trend data; RUG-III data covers 2013-2018 versions.

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-01-31.

Geography

National, with state-level provider detail available.