Perhaps most of this Brooklyn story illustrates how medical treatments vary wildly from region to region, state to state, and — at times — even neighborhood to neighborhood. Physical therapists in Brooklyn tend to bill Medicare patients for more treatments than their counterparts elsewhere in country — and even elsewhere in New York City. On average, they billed each patient for 45 separate treatments in 2012, the Times analysis found. Across the river in Manhattan, the average was 37. In Connecticut, it was 24, while in Minnesota, it was a mere 13.

Mr. Bakry offers an explanation echoed by other practitioners: the newly released Medicare data paints an incomplete picture of where taxpayer dollars are actually flowing. In an interview, Mr. Bakry said his practice had about two dozen physical therapists and assistants working in four offices in 2012. The care provided by all of those therapists and assistants went under his Medicare billing number because he owned the practice.

While Medicare has encouraged providers to bill under their own numbers, the agency acknowledges that data for some providers covers multiple practitioners. Mr. Bakry said he could never himself have provided all the treatments the data appears to suggest.

Furthermore, Mr. Bakry, who says he now operates three offices in different locations in Queens, says he has not worked out of the Ocean Avenue office for years — even though the Medicare data attributed his billings to that address.

“I don’t know why they keep using that address,” Mr. Bakry said.

The release of the 2012 billing records this month set off a firestorm in the medical community. Many applauded the move, saying it shed light on the costs of health care and gave ordinary people a way to compare doctors and treatments.

But the American Medical Association and other industry groups fought against the release of the information. (The Obama administration released it after a long legal battle led by The Wall Street Journal.) The A.M.A. and its allies argued that the raw data provided patients with no information on quality of care.