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Building Your Application
Using BCDA in Production

BCDA User Guide Documentation

For each request and operation, we provide example requests and example cURL commands. We will highlight any common errors or unique attributes of our API. Lastly, we provide an example response from the API.

This documentation is for the production environment (api.bcda.cms.gov). To access this API, your organization must obtain production credentials and add its IP address. If you do not have credentials, you can access synthetic data using the sandbox environment (sandbox.bcda.cms.gov). After adding IP addresses to 4i / ACO-MS, it may take up to an hour for the IPs to be added to the allow list.

Request Metadata

You may want to retrieve metadata to check what version of the API is currently active or to check on the status of the API.

Metadata about the Beneficiary Claims Data API is available as a FHIR CapabilityStatement resource. A token is not required to access this information.

Metadata Examples

Metadata Request

GET /api/v2/metadata

Metadata cURL Command

curl https://api.bcda.cms.gov/api/v2/metadata

Metadata Response Example

{
  "resourceType": "CapabilityStatement",
  "status": "active",
  "date": "2020-10-15",
  "publisher": "Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services",
  "kind": "instance",
  "instantiates": [
    "https://prod-sbx.bfd.cms.gov/baseDstu3/metadata/",
    "http://hl7.org/fhir/uv/bulkdata/CapabilityStatement/bulk-data"
  ],
  "software": {
    "name": "Beneficiary Claims Data API",
    "version": "r79",
    "releaseDate": "2020-10-15"
  },
  "implementation": {
    "description": "The Beneficiary Claims Data API (BCDA) enables Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) participating in the Shared Savings Program to retrieve Medicare Part A, Part B, and Part D claims data for their prospectively assigned or assignable beneficiaries.",
    "url": "https://sandbox.bcda.cms.gov"
  },
  "fhirVersion": "3.0.1",
  "acceptUnknown": "extensions",
  "format": [
    "application/json",
    "application/fhir+json"
  ],
  "rest": [
    {
      "mode": "server",
      "security": {
        "extension": [
          {
            "extension": [
              {
                "url": "token",
                "valueUri": "https://sandbox.bcda.cms.gov/auth/token"
              }
            ],
            "url": "http://fhir-registry.smarthealthit.org/StructureDefinition/oauth-uris"
          }
        ],
        "cors": true,
        "service": [
          {
            "coding": [
              {
                "system": "http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/restful-security-service",
                "code": "OAuth",
                "display": "OAuth"
              }
            ],
            "text": "OAuth"
          }
        ]
      },
      "interaction": [
        {
          "code": "batch"
        },
        {
          "code": "search-system"
        }
      ],
      "operation": [
        {
          "name": "patient-export",
          "definition": {
            "reference": "http://hl7.org/fhir/uv/bulkdata/OperationDefinition/patient-export"
          }
        },
        {
          "name": "group-export",
          "definition": {
            "reference": "http://hl7.org/fhir/uv/bulkdata/OperationDefinition/group-export"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Metadata Explanation

This operation will return data about the API in an NDJSON format. You may view the release version and the FHIR version of the BCDA API that is currently active and other useful information.

Authorization and Authentication

To complete any other operations with the API, you will need to be authorized.

All model entities – Accountable Care Organizations (ACO), Direct Contracting Entities (DCE), Kidney Care Entities (KCE), and Kidney Care First (KCF) Entities – are eligible for authorization through their model-specific system.

Obtain your BCDA Credentials

In production, BCDA protects its endpoints with OAuth2 access tokens.

Your credentials are protected data.

Please store them safely and securely.

Model Entities Gain Access to BCDA through ACO-MS or 4i

ACOs in the Medicare Shared Savings Program: Create and manage your organization's BCDA credentials from the ACO Management System.

REACH ACOs and KCEs or KCFs in the Kidney Care Choices Model: Create and manage your organization's BCDA credentials from the 4i portal.

When creating new credentials, be prepared to provide the IP address(es) for each system that will make requests to BCDA. It may take up to an hour for the allow list to be updated after the IP address(es) are added.

Obtain your Access Token

Currently, access tokens expire after twenty minutes. To illustrate this cycle, we’ll use the published open sandbox credentials for Extra-Small Model Entities.

Example Client ID (Extra-Small Model Entities):
2462c96b-6427-4efb-aed7-118e20c2e997

Example Client Secret (Extra-Small Model Entities):
8e87f0ebc50d10f1bc9734329a9900179b84ccd39e4d0920b905cc359cf6e94a6e760bbe3a0890c7

These credentials do not work in production.

The sample credentials above will not work in the production environment. For production data, follow along using the credentials your model entity was issued.

Submit your credentials to receive an Access Token

You will need to submit the Client ID and the Client Secret issued to your organization using a POST request. You will receive an Access Token that allows access to the API for 20 minutes before expiring.

Access Token Request

POST /auth/token

Access Token cURL Command

cURL Option 1: This cURL command requires separate Base64 encoding. We have concatenated the Base64 encoding of the ‘Client ID : Secret’ as the argument to the -H flag. Please note that the URL in the Production environment will be different.

curl -d "" -X POST "https://sandbox.bcda.cms.gov/auth/token" \
	-H "accept: application/json" \
	-H "authorization: Basic MjQ2MmM5NmItNjQyNy00ZWZiLWFlZDctMTE4ZTIwYzJlOTk3OjhlODdmMGViYzUwZDEwZjFiYzk3MzQzMjlhOTkwMDE3OWI4NGNjZDM5ZTRkMDkyMGI5MDVjYzM1OWNmNmU5NGE2ZTc2MGJiZTNhMDg5MGM3"

cURL Option 2: This cURL command encodes your credentials into Base64.

curl -d "" -X POST "https://sandbox.bcda.cms.gov/auth/token" \
	--user 2462c96b-6427-4efb-aed7-118e20c2e997:8e87f0ebc50d10f1bc9734329a9900179b84ccd39e4d0920b905cc359cf6e94a6e760bbe3a0890c7 \
	-H "accept: application/json"

Access Token Response Example

The token string below has been abbreviated for readability.

{
"access_token": "eyJhbGciOiJSUzUxMiIsInR5c...",
"token_type":"bearer"
}

Access Token Response Headers

access_token: The full text string will serve as your access token. token_type: A fixed value as “bearer”.

Access Token Explanation

In cURL Option 1, you must base-64 encode the Client ID and Secret. Once that is performed, the encoded credentials can be passed to cURL as a header with the form: authorization: Basic [Base64-encoded clientId:secret]

In cURL Option 2, the user can take advantage of cURL’s built-in ability to base-64 encode the clientId and secret, and request and receive their token in a single step. If your operation succeeds, you will receive a 202 response with your access token as a header. You will receive a 401 Unauthorized response if your credentials are invalid or if your token has expired. No additional information is returned with a 401 response. When you receive a 401 response for a token you were just using successfully, you should request a new access token as outlined above.

Set your Access Token as a Bearer Token

In all of your requests, set your access token as the Bearer token. The Bearer token is included in the header of any requests as follows:

Authorization: Bearer {access_token}

Notice that the word “Bearer” must be included with a capital B and followed by a space.

Requesting Data

To obtain all the available data (as far back as 2014) for all of your beneficiaries, you can make a request to either the /Patient or /Group endpoint. You may want to do this as a first call, as a way to check for BCDA files against CCLF files, or to create a database.

BCDA data will be updated weekly, so you will be able to make requests and expect to retrieve new data on a weekly basis.

List of Requests

You can make a few different unfiltered requests for data:

  1. Request all three Resource Types at once
  2. Request any two Resource Types
  3. Request a single Resource Type

Steps

Each request will follow the same four step process:

  1. Obtain an access token
  2. Start a job to acquire data
  3. Check the job status
  4. Download the data

Request All Three Resource Types

The examples below are for the /Group endpoint.

We have provided a few examples below in which we show retrieving only certain resource types from the /Group endpoint. The request and cURL statements can be altered to retrieve any combination of resource types and resource types from the /Patient endpoint as needed.

Step 1: Obtain an Access Token

See Authentication and Authorization above.

Step 2: Start a job to acquire data

Requests to start a job

  1. GET /api/v2/Group/all/$export
  2. GET /api/v2/Group/all/$export?_type=ExplanationOfBenefit,Patient
  3. GET /api/v2/Group/all/$export?_type=Patient

Request Headers

Authorization: Bearer {access_token}
Accept: application/fhir+json
Prefer: respond-async

cURL Commands to start a job

  1. curl -X GET "https://api.bcda.cms.gov/api/v2/Group/all/\$export" \
    	-H "accept: application/fhir+json" \
    	-H "Prefer: respond-async" \
    	-H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}"
  2. curl -X GET "https://api.bcda.cms.gov/api/v2/Group/all/\$export?_type=ExplanationOfBenefit,Patient" \
    	-H "accept: application/fhir+json" \
    	-H "Prefer: respond-async" \
    	-H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}"
  3. curl -X GET "https://api.bcda.cms.gov/api/v2/Group/all/\$export?_type=Patient" \
    	-H "accept: application/fhir+json" \
    	-H "Prefer: respond-async" \
    	-H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}"

Response Example: Successful Request

202 Accepted

Response Example: Too Many Requests

429 Too Many Requests

Response Headers

Content-Location: https://api.bcda.cms.gov/api/v2/jobs/42

Start a Job Explanation

This operation will start a data export job. We have provided three example requests and three example cURL statements to start a job for:

  1. All three resource types
  2. Any two resource types (we use EOB and Patient as an example)
  3. Any single resource type (we use Patient as an example)

For all three resource types, a GET request is made to the /Patient endpoint without the _type query parameter. For one or two resource types, the desired resources are set in the _type query parameter. Notice that, for multiple resource types, they must be separated by commas.

Your access token is required and set as a header. Accept and Prefer headers are also required. The dollar sign ('$') before the word "export" in the URL indicates that the endpoint is an action rather than a resource. The format is defined by the FHIR Bulk Data Export spec.

If the request was successful, a 202 Accepted response code will be returned and the response will include a Content-Location header. The value of this header indicates the location to check for job status and outcome. In the example header below, the number 42 in the URL represents the ID of the export job.

If you're already requesting data from one endpoint and try to request data from that endpoint again while the first request is processing, you'll receive a 429 Too Many Requests error.

Step 3: Check the job status

Request to check the job status

GET https://api.bcda.cms.gov/api/v2/jobs/42

Request Headers

Authorization: Bearer {access_token}
Accept: application/fhir+json

cURL Command to check the job status

curl -X GET "https://api.bcda.cms.gov/api/v2/jobs/42" \
	-H "accept: application/fhir+json" \
	-H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}"

Response Example: Completed Job

{
  "transactionTime": "2019-12-09T20:44:01.705398Z",
  "request": "https://api.bcda.cms.gov/api/v2/Group/all/$export",
  "requiresAccessToken": true,
  "output": [
    {
      "type": "ExplanationOfBenefit",
      "url": "https://api.bcda.cms.gov/data/42/afd22dfa-c239-4063-8882-eb2712f9f638.ndjson"
    },
    {
      "type": "Coverage",
      "url": "https://api.bcda.cms.gov/data/42/f76a0b76-48ed-4033-aad9-d3eec37e7e83.ndjson"
    },
    {
      "type": "Patient",
      "url": "https://api.bcda.cms.gov/data/42/f92dcf16-63a2-448e-a12a-3bf677f966ed.ndjson"
    }
  ],
  "error": [],
  "JobID": 42
}

Response Headers: Incomplete Job

X-Progress: In Progress

Check the Job Status Explanation

This operation will check on the status of a job and return its progress if it has not finished. Notice that the GET request is simply the URL found in the Content-Location header. The Content Location header is found from the previous step (starting a job) within the response section.

Within the response, a 202 Accepted indicates that the job is processing. The response headers will include the X-Progress header. The X-Progress header value will include text indicating the job's status in BCDA's workflow and an estimated progress percentage. For example, X-Progress: In Progress, 80%.

The status will change from 202 Accepted to 200 OK when the export job is complete and the data is ready to be downloaded.

Claims data can be found at the URLs within the output field. The number 42 in the data file URLs is the same job ID from the Content-Location header URL in the previous step. If some of the data cannot be exported due to errors, details of the errors can be found at the URLs in the error field. The errors are provided in an NDJSON file as FHIR OperationOutcome resources.

Step 4: Download the data

Request to download the data

GET https://api.bcda.cms.gov/data/42/afd22dfa-c239-4063-8882-eb2712f9f638.ndjson

Request Headers

Authorization: Bearer {access_token}
Accept-Encoding: gzip

cURL Command to download the data

curl -X GET "https://api.bcda.cms.gov/data/42/afd22dfa-c239-4063-8882-eb2712f9f638.ndjson" \
	-H "Accept-Encoding: gzip" \
	-H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}"

Response Example

  1. Explanation of Benefit
  2. Patient
  3. Coverage

Response Headers

Content-Encoding: gzip

Downloading the Data Explanation

This operation will allow you to obtain the exported data. Notice that the request contains the output URL for a job that is complete (200 OK status).

Files expire after 24 hours.

You will have 24 hours after the job completes to download the data file(s). Otherwise, the files will expire and you will need to restart the job.

The "Accept-Encoding: gzip" header is optional, but will return a significantly smaller (about 30X smaller) file with a faster download speed. Follow our recommended best practices for speeding up downloads.

The response will be the requested data as FHIR resources in NDJSON format. Each file related to a different resource type will appear separately and labeled as to which resource type it contains. Examples of data from each Resource Type are available in the guide to working with BCDA data.

Cancelling a Job

Step 1: Obtain an Access Token

See Authentication and Authorization above.

Step 2: Send a Request to Cancel a Job

Request to Cancel a Job

DELETE /api/v2/jobs/{jobId}

Request Headers

Authorization: Bearer {access_token}

Cancel a Job Explanation

This operation will send a request to cancel any active job. You may want to do this for very long-running jobs or to preserve resources.

If the request is successful, the active job will be terminated and a 202 response will be returned.

Request Jobs History

Step 1: Obtain an Access Token

See Authentication and Authorization above.

Step 2: Send a Request to the Jobs Endpoint

Requests to retrieve data on all past jobs

GET /api/v2/jobs

Request Headers

Authorization: Bearer {access_token}
Accept: application/fhir+json
Prefer: respond-async

cURL Command to check the job status

curl -X GET "https://api.bcda.cms.gov/api/v2/jobs" \
    -H "accept: application/fhir+json" \
    -H "Prefer: respond-async" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}"

Response Example: Completed Job

{
    "entry":[
        {
            "resource":{
                "executionPeriod":{
                    "end":"2021-08-14T00:07:48+00:00",
                    "start":"2021-08-13T00:07:48+00:00"
                },
                "identifier":[
                    {
                        "system":"http://bcda.cms.gov/api/v2/jobs",
                        "use":"official",
                        "value":"1"
                    }
                ],
                "input":[
                    {
                        "type":{
                            "text":"BULK FHIR Export"
                        },
                        "valueString":"GET https://bcda.test.gov/this-is-a-test"
                    }
                ],
                "intent":"order",
                "resourceType":"Task",
                "status":"completed"
            }
        }
    ],
    "resourceType":"Bundle",
    "total":1,
    "type":"searchset"
}

Retrieve Historical Data on Past Job Requests Explanation

This operation will return a Bundle of resources containing information about jobs sent by your organization historically. Each resource represents a single job request. Notice that each resource contains a start date/time, an end date/time, a unique identifier, and the original request (contained in valueString).

Your jobs in the BCDA system have nine possible end states: Completed, Archived, Expired, Failed, FailedExpired, In Progress, Pending, Cancelled, and CancelledExpired. Notice that, in the above example, we did not supply any parameters; we’ve made an unfiltered request for all past jobs. To filter by the status of the job, you may supply a ‘status’ parameter. However, the status parameter has only four possible values supported by the FHIR Task resource: Completed, Failed, In Progress, and Cancelled.

The nine possible job states map to the four supported FHIR Task status values as follows:

  • Archived, Expired, Completed -> Completed
  • FailedExpired, Failed -> Failed
  • Pending, In Progress -> In Progress
  • CancelledExpired, Cancelled-> Cancelled

For example, if your organization had jobs Archived in the BCDA system, you could make a filtered request for those as follows: GET /api/v2/Jobs?_status=Archived. You would receive a list of jobs with the status “Completed”. All of these jobs were Archived in the BCDA system. If your organization also had jobs with the end state of Expired or Completed in the BCDA system, they would also hold the status of Completed. But, they would not be returned in your request for Archived jobs.

If your organization has no jobs to return, you will receive a 404 ERROR in your response.

Request Attribution Status

Step 1: Obtain an Access Token

See Authentication and Authorization above.

Step 2: Send a Request to the Attribution Status Endpoint

Requests to check the last updated date of your attribution data

GET /api/v2/attribution_status

Request Headers

Authorization: Bearer {access_token}
Accept: application/json

cURL Command to retrieve the attribution status

curl -X GET "https://api.bcda.cms.gov/api/v2/attribution_status" \
    -H "accept: application/json" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}"

Response Example

{
    “Ingestion_dates”: [
        {
            “type”: “last_attribution_update”,
            “timestamp”: “2020-12-22 22:31:40.397916+00”
        },
        {
            “type”: “last_runout_update”,
            “timestamp”: “2020-12-22 22:31:40.397916+00”
        }
    ]
}

Check the Last Updated Date of your Attribution Data Explanation

This operation will return a timestamp of the last time your attribution data was updated in the BCDA system. You may want to use this timestamp to check whether to run a new job request. You can do so by comparing it to the last date/time your organization requested data from BCDA.

If BCDA has never ingested an attribution file or a runout file for your organization, you will receive a NOT FOUND 404 response.

Requesting Filtered Data

You may want to obtain filtered data for all of your beneficiaries (or for a subset of your beneficiaries) in order to reduce file size and download time. You may also want to target specific data, such as your runouts data.

To reduce file size, use the _since parameter with either the /Patient or /Group endpoints, but be wary that you understand the difference regarding newly added beneficiaries. You may want to do this as a repeating call or as a way to check for new data.

To obtain claims runout data, use the 'runout' parameter with the /Group endpoint, which returns data for beneficiaries who were attributed to your model entity the previous year but not the current year. These claims will have a service date no later than December 31 of the previous year.

Before using _since, download all of your data.

Before using _since for the first time, we recommend that you run an unfiltered request (without using _since) to all resource types on the /Patient or /Group endpoints in order to retrieve all historical data for your model entity's associated beneficiaries. You only need to do this once.

On subsequent calls you can begin retrieving incremental claims data for your beneficiaries using _since. We suggest using the transactionTime from your last bulk data request as the _since date.

List of Requests

You can make a few different filtered requests for data:

  1. Request the most recent data for all beneficiaries: Use _since within the /Patient endpoint
  2. Request the most recent data for all beneficiaries AND historical data for newly added beneficiaries: Use _since within the /Group endpoint
  3. Request runouts data: Use 'runout' within the /Group endpoint

Steps

Each request will follow the same four step process as an unfiltered request:

  1. Obtain an access token
  2. Start a job to acquire data (you will input the _since parameter here)
  3. Check the job status
  4. Download the data

The only difference appears in the request of Step 2: Start a job to acquire data. We show examples of this step below.

When using _since, format dates and times by the FHIR standard

Dates and times submitted in _since must be listed in the FHIR instant format (YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:sss+zz:zz).

  • Sample Date: February 20, 2020 12:00 PM EST
  • instant Format: YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:sss+zz:zz
  • Formatted Sample: 2020-02-20T12:00:00.000-05:00

For more information consult FHIR Datatypes page.

Difference between requesting data from before or after 02-12-2020

Due to limitations in the Beneficiary FHIR Data (BFD) Server, data from before 02-12-2020 is marked with the arbitrary lastUpdated date of 01-01-2020. If you input dates between 01-01-2020 and 02-11-2020 in the _since parameter, you will receive all historical data for your beneficiaries. Data loads from 02-12-2020 onwards have been marked with accurate dates.

Requesting using _since with the /Patient endpoint

Step 1: Obtain an Access Token

See Authentication and Authorization above.

Step 2: Start a job

Request to start a job using the _since parameter within the /Patient endpoint

GET /api/v2/Patient/$export?_type=Patient&_since=2020-02-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

Request Headers

Authorization: Bearer {access_token}
Accept: application/fhir+json
Prefer: respond-async

cURL Command using the _since parameter within the /Patient endpoint

curl -X GET "https://api.bcda.cms.gov/api/v2/Patient/\$export?_type=Patient&_since=2020-02-13T08:00:00.000-05:00" \
	-H "Accept: application/fhir+json" \
	-H "Prefer: respond-async" \
	-H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}"

Response Example: Successful Request

202 Accepted

Response Example: Too Many Requests

429 Too Many Requests

Response Headers

Content-Location: https://api.bcda.cms.gov/api/v2/jobs/42

Start a Job using _since within the /Patient endpoint Explanation

This operation will start a job for data for all beneficiaries since the selected date: February 13, 2020. Notice that we are seeking data from the /Patient endpoint. This request would behave differently if it was made from the /Group endpoint. In the example, we request the Patient resource type. The steps and format would work similarly for other resource types.

You must provide a _since date in the FHIR format. An access token as well as Accept and Prefer headers are required. The dollar sign ($) before the word "export" in the URL indicates that the endpoint is an action rather than a resource. The format is defined by the FHIR Bulk Data Export spec.

If the request was successful, a 202 Accepted response code will be returned and the response will include a Content-Location header. The value of this header indicates the location to check for job status and outcome. In the example header above, the number 42 in the URL represents the ID of the export job.

Step 3: Check the job status

See Step 3: Check the job status in the Request Data section above.

Step 4: Download the data

See Step 4: Download the data in the Request Data section above.

Requesting using _since with the /Group endpoint

Step 1: Obtain an Access Token

See Authentication and Authorization above.

Step 2: Start a job

Request to Start a job using the _since parameter within the /Group endpoint

GET /api/v2/Group/all/$export?_type=Patient&_since=2020-02-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

Request Headers

Authorization: Bearer {access_token}
Accept: application/fhir+json
Prefer: respond-async

cURL Command using the _since parameter within the /Group endpoint

curl -X GET "https://api.bcda.cms.gov/api/v2/Group/all/\$export?_type=Patient&_since=2020-02-13T08:00:00.000-05:00" \
	-H "Accept: application/fhir+json" \
	-H "Prefer: respond-async" \
	-H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}"

Response Example: Successful Request

202 Accepted

Response Example: Too Many Requests

429 Too Many Requests

Response Headers

Content-Location: https://api.bcda.cms.gov/api/v2/jobs/42

Start a Job using _since within the /Group endpoint Explanation

This operation will start a job for filtered data for existing beneficiaries since 8PM EST on February 13th, 2020 and going as far back as 2014 for historical data for beneficiaries assigned to your organization in the last month. In the example, we request the Patient resource type. The steps and format would work similarly for other resource types.

You must provide the groupID of "all" as well as a _since date in the FHIR format. An access token as well as Accept and Prefer headers are required. The dollar sign ($) before the word "export" in the URL indicates that the endpoint is an action rather than a resource. The format is defined by the FHIR Bulk Data Export spec.

If the request was successful, a 202 Accepted response code will be returned and the response will include a Content-Location header. The value of this header indicates the location to check for job status and outcome. In the example header above, the number 42 in the URL represents the ID of the export job.

Attribution data is only updated once per month.

While most claims data is updated on a weekly cadence (and we encourage you to retrieve your model entity's claims data weekly), attribution is only updated one time per month, so you will only be able to retrieve historical claims data for newly attributed beneficiaries once per month. Additional calls will only yield duplicative data for these newly attributed beneficiaries.

Step 3: Check the job status

See Step 3: Check the job status in the Request Data section above.

Step 4: Download the data

See Step 4: Download the data in the Request Data section above.

Request runouts data with /Group and `runout`

Step 1: Obtain an Access Token

See Authentication and Authorization above.

Step 2: Start a job to acquire data

Requests to start a job

  1. GET /api/v2/Group/runout/$export
  2. GET /api/v2/Group/runout/$export?_type=ExplanationOfBenefit,Patient
  3. GET /api/v2/Group/runout/$export?_type=Patient

Request Headers

Authorization: Bearer {access_token}
Accept: application/fhir+json
Prefer: respond-async

cURL Commands to start a job

  1. curl -X GET "https://api.bcda.cms.gov/api/v2/Group/runout/\$export" \
    	-H "accept: application/fhir+json" \
    	-H "Prefer: respond-async" \
    	-H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}"
  2. curl -X GET "https://api.bcda.cms.gov/api/v2/Group/runout/\$export?_type=ExplanationOfBenefit,Patient" \
    	-H "accept: application/fhir+json" \
    	-H "Prefer: respond-async" \
    	-H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}"
  3. curl -X GET "https://api.bcda.cms.gov/api/v2/Group/runout/\$export?_type=Patient" \
    	-H "accept: application/fhir+json" \
    	-H "Prefer: respond-async" \
    	-H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}"

Response Example: Successful Request

202 Accepted

Response Headers

Content-Location: https://api.bcda.cms.gov/api/v2/jobs/42

Start a Job using 'runout' with /Group Explanation

This operation will start a data export job. We have provided three example requests and three example cURL statements to start a job for:

  1. All three resource types
  2. Any two resource types (we use EOB and Patient as an example)
  3. Any single resource type (we use Patient as an example)

For all of the requests, a GET request is made to the /Group endpoint with the `runout` identifier. To retrieve all three resource types, simply exclude the _type query parameter. For one or two resource types, the desired resources are set in the _type query parameter. Notice that, for multiple resource types, they must be separated by commas.

Your access token is required and set as a header. Accept and Prefer headers are also required. The dollar sign ('$') before the word "export" in the URL indicates that the endpoint is an action rather than a resource. The format is defined by the FHIR Bulk Data Export spec.

If the request was successful, a 202 Accepted response code will be returned and the response will include a Content-Location header. The value of the Content-Location header indicates the location to check for job status and outcome. In the example header above, the number 42 in the URL represents the ID of the export job. The claims returned in the job will be filtered to have a serviceDate of 12/31/2020 or before.

If you're already requesting data from one endpoint and try to request data from that endpoint again while the first request is processing, you'll receive a 429 Too Many Requests error. For guidance on how to handle 429 errors, refer to our best practices.

Step 3: Check the job status

See Step 3: Check the job status in the Request Data section above.

Step 4: Download the data

See Step 4: Download the data in the Request Data section above.

Best Practices

Handling 429 status codes

A status code of 429 indicates “Too Many Requests.” This can occur due to two reasons:

  1. Making too many HTTP requests within a period of time
  2. Trying to recreate jobs already marked as "In-Progress.” For reference, you can view both existing and past jobs using the /jobs endpoint. See Request Jobs History for more details.

Regardless of the reason, you will see a Retry-After response in the header. Wait until the period of time specified in the header has passed before making any more requests. This makes sure your client can adapt without manual intervention, even if the rate-limiting parameters change.

Speeding up downloads

Requesting compressed data

Requesting compressed data can help increase your download speed. You can request compressed data files by specifying the `Accept-Encoding: gzip` header in your download requests.

Sample cURL Command to Download the Data

curl "https://sandbox.bcda.cms.gov/data/42/afd22dfa-c239-4063-8882-eb2712f9f638.ndjson" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}" \
-H "Accept-Encoding: gzip"

Downloading files concurrently

When multiple files are available, you don't need to wait for one download to complete before starting the next. You may make multiple download requests concurrently.