Issued by: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Issue Date: January 01, 2020

CMS offers different types of data from summarized reports to individual-level data.

• Public Use File (PUF)
• Limited Data Set (LDS)
• Research Identifiable File (RIF)

The type of data file that is right for you will depend on a number of factors. They are:

• Level of detail needed
• Level of customization required
• Budget available
• Time to obtain
• Storage available

                                                  

Read more on this topic from the article, "Differences between RIF, LDS, and PUF Data Files".

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