What are Public Use Files: Public Use Files (PUFs) ?
Public Use Files are aggregated data that for most instances are not covered by the Privacy Act as there is no beneficiary- or physician-level data in these files. Some of the files are summarizations of information found in the Research Identifiable Files and some contain information that cannot be derived from any other source. For a complete description of these files, download a PUFs catalog at : http://www.cms.hhs.gov/researchers/statsdata.asp . Under the header “Public Use Data Files (PUFs)” you ll see a subheader to”Download a PUFs catalog.
Public Use Files are aggregated data that for most instances are not covered by the Privacy Act as there is no beneficiary- or physician-level data in these files. Some of the files are summarizations of information found in the Research Identifiable Files and some contain information that cannot be derived from any other source. For a complete description of these files, download a PUFs catalog at : http://www.cms.hhs.gov/researchers/statsdata.asp .
