Since April 30, 2002, most of the provider cost reports are available for free from the CMS website. Cost reports available for download include Hospitals, Hospices, Renal Dialysis Facilities, Skilled Nursing Facilities and Home Health Agency.
The cost report files contain the highest status[1] of cost report filed for each provider each year. To find out the most recent data available, click on the provider of interest.
Information about accessing these files is available on the Cost Reports' Requesting Data page.
Due to the size of the cost reports database, CMS recommends that researchers load the data in Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, SPSS, or SAS. For the smaller databases, Microsoft Access or other similar applications can be used.
The downloadable cost reports are available in a relational database format as opposed to a flat file format that was previously offered. The cost report data are stored in three different comma separated value files that include the Report file, the Alpha-Numeric file, and the Numeric file. The Report file contains general information about the provider and cost report submitted. The Alpha-Numeric file contains character and number values, such as provider address. The Numeric file contains only number values, such as total cost by cost center or total number of beds.
In order to extract the cost report and/or variable of interest, the Report file needs to be linked to either the Alpha-Numeric or Numeric file. For more information about the file formats, please see the technical document "Cost Reports File Format: Traditional Flat File versus a Relational Database File".
Each type of provider is required to complete certain standard worksheets, that collectively are referred to as a 'form', that contain descriptive, statistical, and financial information. The list below shows the current form for each provider. For more information about the forms, please go to the Provider Reimbursement Manual - Part II.
| Form |
Used By |
| CMS-2552-96 |
Hospitals
and Health Care Complexes(including
all hospital based sub providers) |
| CMS-2540-96 |
Freestanding
Skilled Nursing Facility and SNF Health Care Complex (including SNF based sub providers) |
| CMS-2540s-97 |
Freestanding
Skilled Nursing Facility having less than 1500 bed days per year |
| CMS-1728-94 |
Freestanding
Home Health Agencies (including all HHA based sub providers) |
| CMS-265-94 |
Freestanding
Renal Dialysis Facility |
| CMS-1984-99 |
Freestanding
Hospice Program |
| CMS-216-94 |
Organ
Procurement Organization/Histocompatibility Laboratory Providers |
| CMS-222-92 |
Freestanding
Rural Health Clinics and Federally Qualified Health Centers |
| CMS-287-92 |
Home
Office Cost Statement |
| CMS-2088-92 |
Outpatient
Rehabilitation Providers |
The list below shows the major categories of cost report worksheets and the providers that use these worksheets. For more information about the instructions for completing these worksheets, please go to the Provider Reimbursement Manual - Part II.
| S |
All Providers |
Provider summary information |
| A |
All Providers |
Adjustments |
| B |
All Providers |
Cost allocation based on cost center |
| C |
All Providers |
Cost-to-Charge Ratios |
| D |
All Providers |
Determining Costs |
| E |
Hospitals, SNF |
Settlements |
| F |
HHA |
Financial Statements |
| G |
Hospital, SNF, Hospice |
Financial Statements |
| H |
Hospital, SNF |
Determine provider based HHA Medicare Settlement |
| I |
Hospital, SNF |
Determine provider based renal dialysis costs (Hospital) and RHC/FQHC (SNF) |
| J |
Hospital, SNF, HHA |
Determine provider based CORF Medicare settlement |
| K |
Hospital, SNF, HHA |
Determine provider based hospice Medicare costs |
| L |
Hospital |
Determine
provider Medicare capital payment |
| M |
Hospital |
Determine RHC/FQHC Medicare settlement |
| CM |
HHA |
Determine
provider based CMHC Medicare costs |
| RH |
HHA |
Determine
provider based RHC Medicare costs |
| FQ |
HHA |
Determine
provider based FQHC Medicare costs |
| RF |
HHA |
Determine
provider based RHC/FQHC Medicare costs |
Providers may submit more than one cost report, an initial report and then subsequent reports that would contain adjustments and revisions. Each cost report is assigned a status and the order is from 1 to 4 with 1 being the lowest. 1- as submitted, 2-settled without audit, 3-settled with audit, 4-reopened.