Dallas Morning News methodology

The Dallas Morning News analyzed recently released Medicare data to examine in detail the billing patterns of Texas health care providers. The records from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services cover almost all payments to individual medical professionals who billed Medicare’s Part B fee-for-service program in 2012. The News identified 163 Texas health professionals who were their specialty’s most extreme outlier nationally for one or more procedures. READ MORE ABOUT THE METHODOLOGY

When the government released Medicare billing data in April for the first time, The Dallas Morning News reported that more than 340 doctors and other care providers in Texas received over $1 million each in 2012. A Dallas internist took in the second-highest Medicare revenue statewide at $5.1 million — 50 times the average payout for that specialty nationally . A Tyler ophthalmologist topped the list of Texas providers with $6.8 million in Medicare payouts, about 20 times the U.S. average. READ THE STORY