This dataset is ProPublica's premium version of the Medicare Part D data for 2011. Medicare’s popular prescription-drug program serves 39 million people and pays for more than one of every four prescriptions written nationwide. We've cleaned and analyzed Medicare Part D data from 2011 to offer a detailed look at individual providers prescribing habits. There are five total files:

• A main provider file that includes overall information for each provider, including name, location and summary prescription tallies. This includes all providers who wrote at least 50 prescriptions for at least one drug in 2011. All totals refer only to Part D.
• A breakdown of the drugs prescribed by each provider.
• A lookup file for drugs to determine if they are antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, Schedule 2/Schedule 3 or Beers drugs. We used information from the American Geriatrics Society to identify Beers drugs. We used information from CMS and First Databank to identify narcotic, benzodiazepine and antipsychotic drugs. CMS provided a list of antipsychotic medications, as well as Schedule 2/Schedule 3 drugs as they appeared on the DEA’s list in 2011.
• A summary file of the top 500 drugs dispensed in Medicare Part D in 2011, based on the number of fills, including the respective fill rank and cost rank in each state.
• Rankings for drugs within each specialty and state.

Optional add-ons include:

• Custom runs by location, drug, or provider