On Monday, Aug. 29, the CMS will release a national provider Comparative Billing Report (CBR) focused on Ordering Durable Medical Equipment: Diabetic Supplies. This will be the first release of 5000 CBRs with two additional releases to follow (the second release of 5000 CBRs is targeted for Wednesday, Sept. 7; the third for Thursday, Sept. 15).
CBRs produced by Safeguard Services, under contract with CMS, contain actual data-driven tables and graphs with an explanation of findings that compare a provider’s billing and payment patterns to those of their peers located in the state and across the nation. CMS has received feedback from a number of providers that this kind of data is helpful to them and encouraged them to produce more CBRs.
CBRs convey billing information that can be used as an educational tool by providers in complying with Medicare billing rules and improve the level of care they furnish to their Medicare patients. These reports are not available to anyone but the providers who receive them. To ensure privacy, CMS presents only summary billing information; no patient- or case-specific data is included.