The physician referral data was initially provided as a response to a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request. These files represent data from 2009 through June 2013 showing the number of referrals from one physician to another.

The data is available for download from:
https://questions.cms.gov/faq.php?faqId=7977. Files can be downloaded as a txt or a zip file. Note that the files range in size from 1-7 gigabytes. Special statistical software is needed for analysis. These files will not fully open in a text editor or Microsoft Excel.

Some additional information about the physician referral data file is available at:
http://www.healthdata.gov/data/dataset/physician-referral-patterns

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