Provider Almanac Currently Available!

Provider Almanac is currently available with new information.  Medicare Cost Reports have been updated with CMS data released through December 31, 2011.  CMS has received 6,136 hospital cost reports for 2010 or about 98%.  CMS has received and processed 6,187 or 100% of hospital cost reports with year ends in 2009.  CMS has processed 14,401 SNF cost reports for 2010 or about 99% and 14,371 reports for 2009 or 100%.  CMS has processed 9,857 HHA cost reports for 2010 and 9,176 for 2009.  Provider Almanac is currently running on Windows 7 operating system, Vista and Windows XP SP2.       

Provider Almanac is currently available with new 4th quarter POS 2011 information. 

This upgrade was released on March 19, 2012.

The next upgrade to Provider Almanac will be the NPI information for physicians.  This will update the UPIN information that was discontinued by CMS in 2007.  

  

Website Upgrade

The website has a new Reports section.  This section has the Profile reports for Hospitals, SNF, HHA and Hospice for the last 5 years.  The reports for 2010 contain the currently available cost reports.  The years for 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006 are complete.  The reports are in PDF format and can be saved to your computer for future reference.  New reports with KPI information showing 5 year history are being added to the website in April 2012. 

The report section was updated with new reports on October 15, 2011.

New System Improvements!

Provider Almanac databases have been upgraded to use the Microsoft Azure Cloud.  The Azure Cloud promises 99.9999% availability with faster processing.  The Azure Clould in maintained by Microsoft employees in 6 datacenters around the world.  The Provider Almanac databases are stored in the Austin, TX datacenter with a backup copy in the Chicago, IL datacenter and another backup in a datacenter outside the United States.  The SQL Servers for the Azure Cloud are already running the new SQL Server 2012 version.  This is a big improvement in reliability. 

The new software was available by June 30, 2012.

Population Almanac in Development

Population Almanac is currently in development.  This almanac will contain the census for 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010.  The census will have age, race, sex, household type and household size.  The census will have information for State, County, City/Place, Census Tract, ZTAC and Congressional District.  The current population estimates will be included for the last 8 years.  The population estimates will be available for State, County and City/Place.  The American Community Survey will be included for the last 8 years.  This survey replaces the census long form and verifies the population estimates by a statistical approach.  In a future release of Population Almanac, Medicare enrollment, postal delivery statistics, building permits and school enrollment information will be included.  See the page with Population Almanac on this website for more information.  

The first release of Population Almanac should be September 30, 2012.