Berenson-Eggers Type of Service (BETOS)

These files contain the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Health Care Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) procedure codes and the Berenson-Eggers Type of Service (BETOS) code to which each procedure code is assigned. Beginning in 1998, these files also contain discontinued HCPCS codes, which will be identifiable by the presence of a termination date.

The BETOS coding system was developed primarily for analyzing the growth in Medicare expenditures. The coding system covers all HCPCS codes; assigns a HCPCS code to only one BETOS code; consists of readily understood clinical categories (as opposed to statistical or financial categories); consists of categories that permit objective assignment; is stable over time; and is relatively immune to minor changes in technology or practice patterns.

File Organization: The file contains one 17-character record for each unique combination of BETOS code and HCPCS procedure code. The file is sorted in ascending order of HCPCS codes.