HHS emPOWER REST Service
Why the HHS emPOWER REST Service is Needed
Over 3 million Medicare beneficiaries rely on electricity-dependent durable medical and assistive equipment and devices, such as ventilators, to live independently in their homes. Severe weather and other emergencies, especially those with prolonged power outages, can be life-threatening for these individuals. Community partners initially were only able to access de-identified aggregated data on Medicare electricity-dependent at-risk population data, down to the ZIP Code, via the HHS emPOWER Map. In 2017, the HHS emPOWER Representational State Transfer (REST) Service was launched to allow any user the ability to consume this data layer in their own geospatial information systems (GIS) or applications so they could compare, analyze, and visualize this de-identified Medicare data along with their other community resource and asset data layers (e.g. hospitals, shelters, etc.) to better inform emergency preparedness, response, recovery and community mitigation decision-making and actions prior to, during and after an incident, emergency, or disaster.
Who can access the HHS emPOWER REST Service
The HHS emPOWER REST Service is publicly available, and can be consumed and displayed as a data layer in other geospatial information systems (GIS) and/or applications. Consuming the emPOWER data layer in a user’s own system enables them the ability to conduct, inform, and support national, state, territorial, local, and community-based GIS analyses. Detailed instructions on how to access, consume, and use the REST Service are included in the HHS emPOWER REST Service Job Aid, available in the Resources box on this page.
What the HHS emPOWER REST Service Offers
The HHS emPOWER REST Service provides a monthly updated de-identified total at the national, state, territory, county, and ZIP Code levels for Medicare beneficiaries that are currently enrolled in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service Medicare Fee-For-Service (Parts A/B) or Medicare Advantage (Part C). The REST Service also provides a monthly updated total for the number of Medicare beneficiaries who have had an administrative claim for one or more types of electricity-dependent durable medical and assistive equipment (DME) and devices, as well as at-risk combinations data for those who rely on a certain essential health care service(s) and any electricity-dependent DME and devices. To learn more about the data provided by the HHS emPOWER REST Service, access the HHS emPOWER Quick Data Reference Guide and HHS emPOWER REST Service Job Aid in the Resources box on this page.
How the HHS emPOWER REST Service is Making an Impact
The HHS emPOWER REST Service allows users to readily access, consume, and apply de-identified aggregated Medicare beneficiary claims data totals at the state, territory, county, and ZIP code levels (as displayed in the HHS emPOWER Map) in their own geographic information system (GIS) application. Public health, health care, and emergency management officials, first responders, utilities, and many other community partners, including the general public, have used the REST Service to geospatially compare at-risk electricity-dependent population densities and community resources to inform decision making and deployment of assets, identification of optimal shelter locations and resource allocation, position volunteer teams, and support power restoration prioritization to help their at-risk populations and communities more rapidly recover following an incident, emergency or disaster.
Learn more about the HHS emPOWER REST Service by accessing the link and materials in the Resources box on this page.
