This project analyzes Medicare inpatient hospital discharges and payment data (2017–2022) to uncover trends in healthcare costs, provider performance, and geographic payment distributions. The goal was to provide actionable insights for understanding Medicare payment efficiency and patient cost trends using a dataset of over 1M records from the CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) website.

The dataset contains comprehensive information on inpatient hospital discharges, including:

• Diagnosis-related group (DRG) codes
• Total Medicare payments
• Average provider charges
• Out-of-pocket patient costs
• Geographic locations of providers

It serves as a vital resource for understanding healthcare utilization and financial metrics.

• Update Frequency: Updated annually to include the latest discharge data.
• Format: CSV files of each year.
• Focus: The analysis uses data from 2017 to 2022 to identify trends and insights in Medicare inpatient hospital services.

• Microsoft Excel: Power Query Editor for data merging and cleaning.
• SQL: Advanced query handling and validation.
• Tableau: Interactive dashboards for visual analysis.

• Data cleaning, transformation, and quality checks.
• Exploratory analysis, statistical methods, and time-series analysis.

• Data is extracted from the CMS Medicare Inpatient Hospitals portal and stored locally.
• Excel Power Query Editor is used for merging, cleaning, and adding custom columns.
• SQL is utilized for advanced data cleaning and preparation.
• Tableau is used for visualizations to analyze KPIs, trends, and geographic insights.

• Data Understanding: Interpreting the complex dataset and its attributes to uncover meaningful patterns and relationships.
• Data Transformation: Applying effective cleaning, merging, and transformation techniques to ensure data accuracy and consistency for analysis.
• Visualization: Crafting intuitive Tableau visualizations by selecting relevant insights and presenting them with clear visual themes and color schemes.

The insights derived from the dashboard are outlined below; please refer to the Dashboard itself for a clearer and more interactive presentation of these findings.

• Medicare payments and patient out-of-pocket expenses showed a steady increase from 2017 to 2022, reflecting rising healthcare costs.
• While patient discharges remained stable initially, a decline was observed post-2018, indicating a shift in care delivery or reduced inpatient utilization.
• The number of participating providers also decreased during this period, signaling potential industry consolidation or reduced program participation.

• Infectious and Parasitic Diseases accounted for the highest costs, with $403M in Medicare payments and $450M in total costs, emphasizing their financial impact.
• Sepsis-related cases were the most frequent diagnosis group, with over 3.5M discharges, while Tracheotomy with Mechanical Ventilation (>96 hours) had the lowest, reflecting its specialized nature.
• The average Medicare payment per discharge varied significantly across diagnosis groups, highlighting the differences in treatment complexities and resource needs.

• States like California ($47.9B), New York ($37.15B), and Florida ($30.59B) had the highest Medicare payments due to larger populations and healthcare demand.
• Wyoming ($0.43B) and Alaska ($0.11B) reported the lowest expenditures, consistent with smaller populations and healthcare infrastructure.
• High-cost claims were concentrated in metropolitan areas with populations exceeding 50,000, underlining urban healthcare demand disparities.

• New York Presbyterian Hospital led Medicare payments at $64.81M across 145,000 discharges, showcasing its financial contribution to the program.
• AdventHealth Orlando reported the highest discharges (149,000), with $27M in payments, indicating cost efficiency for its case mix.
• Leading providers like Massachusetts General Hospital, Mayo Clinic, and NYU Langone Hospitals balanced discharge volumes and payments, highlighting their operational effectiveness.

This project was conducted using Medicare Open Data, with a primary focus on utilizing Tableau to create visually compelling and stakeholder-friendly dashboards. The goal was to showcase the potential of clear, creative insights that are accessible to both technical and non-technical users, enabling seamless data exploration. The resources leveraged for building these Tableau dashboards include Tableau Public and official Tableau Documentation, which provided valuable guidance throughout the project.