An API (Application Programming Interface) is a set of rules and protocols that allows different software applications to communicate and interact with one another. The Coverage API currently offers endpoints for many of the National and Local Coverage Reports in the MCD.
APIs work by defining a set of rules and protocols for how different software components should interact. They provide a way for one software application to make requests and receive responses from another application or service. The Coverage API responds to requests from other applications for data currently included in the MCD National and Local Coverage Reports.
No. Anyone can access the Coverage API, and without an API key. While an API key was initially required to access the Coverage API, as of February 8, 2024 we have removed the need for an API key. We will continue to maintain a throttling limit of 10,000 requests per second to ensure open access to all Coverage API users. We are hopeful that these changes increase opportunities to automate access to Coverage data.
No updates will need to be made with this change to existing API calls that use an API key. Those API calls will continue to work with your API keys, though API keys will no longer be required once the change goes into effect.
In order to keep the Coverage API available at all times to all users, we are using API throttling, a mechanism used to limit the number of API calls made by all clients or users in a given time frame. The Coverage API has a throttling limit of 10,000 requests per second. This will regulate the rate of requests to prevent excessive usage and maintain the stability of the API server, ensuring that resources are allocated efficiently and shared among all users in a way that prevents server overload.
An API endpoint is a specific URL or URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) provided by an API that corresponds to a particular resource or functionality. It represents a specific interaction point where you can make requests to or retrieve data from the API. As an example of the Coverage API endpoints, the Local Coverage What's New endpoint retrieves the contents of the Local Coverage What's New Report, a list of recently added and updated Local Coverage documents.
Using the Coverage API can facilitate automated data collection from the Medicare Coverage Database. Many users of the MCD retrieve information from the site by viewing the latest reports and/or downloading local and national coverage document data sets. For organizations that do this on a regular basis, automating the activity of retrieving information from the MCD via the Coverage API can save time and money and allow them to quickly update their own files that use the Medicare Coverage sites as source information for their websites, products, and service.
No. The Coverage API will not provide information that is not already available via the reports, downloads, and search functionality of the MCD.
API documentation provides detailed information about an API, including its endpoints, parameters, data formats, error handling, and examples. It serves as a guide for developers on how to use the API correctly. It may be available in various formats such as HTML, PDF, or interactive documentation tools like Swagger or Postman. The Coverage API uses Swagger for our API documentation which can be found here.
API data will be presented in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format, a lightweight data interchange format that is commonly used for structuring and transmitting data between a client and a server. It is easy for humans to read and write and easy for machines to parse and generate. At this moment there are no plans to support additional data output formats.
API responses typically include status codes and error messages that indicate the success or failure of a request. By checking the status code and parsing the response body, you can handle errors and exceptions in your application logic accordingly. If you are still having issues with errors and exceptions, please reach out to our Coverage API Helpdesk.
To contact us, click the Submit Feedback/Ask a Question button at the bottom of this modal. In addition to any questions, we welcome any feedback on the user experience, common use cases, and any other related insights for us to consider as we continue to expand the offerings of the Coverage API.