Faster PECOS Search

BALTIMORE — “CMS has finally uploaded a list of PECOS
enrolled physicians in a usable CSV format,” DME billing firm
ClaraVista, Columbia, S.C., reported last week. Unlike the previous
PDF version, the CSV file will open in Excel or Notepad and can be
imported into Access, allowing users to sort, filter and search the
data.

“This is a huge breakthrough,” said ClaraVista’s Maureen Bacon,
controller. “We tried to convert the massive PDF to a CSV file on
our own, but even with dual core processors and a T3 internet
connection, it proved to be painfully slow and my computer system
all but grinded to a halt during the process.” After corresponding
with CMS staff who had created the PECOS file, Bacon said, “It was
clear to me that they didn’t fully understand how long it takes to
search 13,000 pages for hundreds of physicians in a PDF file. So I
gave them an NPI from the last page and asked them to start at page
one and search for it, just so they could see how long it takes for
themselves.”

Since, a new ZIP file with a CSV version of the file, which
lists all 687,819 physicians currently enrolled in PECOS, has been
posted for download at:
www.cms.gov/MedicareProviderSupEnroll/06_MedicareOrderingandReferring.asp.