🔔 CMS Article Response-to-Comment Ledger

One structured record per filed public comment-and-response on a CMS Article — the article id and version, the response-to-comment number, the (HTML-cleaned) public comment, and the (HTML-cleaned) official response. An evidence ledger over ~7,491 filed comment/response pairs, keyed and deduplicated on article_id:version:rtc_num. Built for coverage-policy, regulatory-affairs, and evidence teams tracking how CMS answered public comments on its Articles.

Differentiation: the response-to-comment record is filed as HTML inside the CMS Article export; this ledger cleans the HTML to plain text, joins it on the exact policy version, and carries only the filed public text. These are public filed comments only — there is no name enrichment (no commenter identity is extracted, looked up, or added) and no patient inference.

Output is one cms_article_response_to_comment row per result; billing is pay-per-event, the value event being one comment response record (a $0.02 start fee per run, then $0.02 per comment response record). Source: downloads.cms.gov, www.cms.gov.

No login, no API key and no CAPTCHA solving are involved: the source is read logged-out with an identified contact User-Agent.

📊 Sample Output

Real rows from run U84m4NNMykx4BykUU on build 0.1.7 (2026-09-19), the same input as the Quick start below — every value is as the source published it (emails masked, long text shortened):

article_id	article_version	rtc_num	comment	response	license
54137	2	1	Please consider adding coverage for multiple myeloma.	CGS will add the following paragraph for multiple myeloma to the final	CMS Medicare Coverage Database — U.S. Government public data; CPT is c
54398	2	1	A comment was received that the provider did not agree with the utiliz	We have clarified indication 1 and it now reads “Drop attack or sync	CMS Medicare Coverage Database — U.S. Government public data; CPT is c
54398	2	2	One provider did not think the use of a carotid Doppler to make the di	According to the Cleveland Clinic, Doppler ultrasonography (DUS) is a	CMS Medicare Coverage Database — U.S. Government public data; CPT is c
54398	2	3	Multiple requests were made to add the indication of sickle cell anemi	The sickle cell anemia diagnostic codes (D57.00 – D57.819) were adde	CMS Medicare Coverage Database — U.S. Government public data; CPT is c
54398	2	4	Suggestions were made to make changes to Credentialing and Accreditati	Services will be considered medically reasonable and necessary only if	CMS Medicare Coverage Database — U.S. Government public data; CPT is c
54398	2	5	Comments were received that the proposed requirement that certified te	We agree that the Medicare regulations do describe the requirements fo	CMS Medicare Coverage Database — U.S. Government public data; CPT is c
54398	2	6	The LCDs indicate, "it is recommended that noninvasive vascular studie	We have removed this language.	CMS Medicare Coverage Database — U.S. Government public data; CPT is c
54398	2	7	Comments were received that stated that Intersocietal Commission for A	Thank you. We have corrected Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (I	CMS Medicare Coverage Database — U.S. Government public data; CPT is c

The run finished with the status message: NORMAL: 50 unique rows (0 duplicates collapsed). billable=50

✅ What you get

Each row is flat JSON with these fields (from the dataset schema and the sample run; a field the source does not publish for a given row is null):

• record_type (string/null) — e.g. cms_article_response_to_comment
• article_id (string/null) — e.g. 54137
• article_version (string/null) — e.g. 2
• rtc_num (string/null) — e.g. 1
• comment (string/null) — e.g. Please consider adding coverage for multiple myeloma.
• response (string/null) — e.g. CGS will add the following paragraph for multiple myeloma to the final version o
• source (string/null) — e.g. cms-article-response-to-comment-ledger
• release_date (string/null) — null in every sample row
• source_url (string/null) — e.g. https://www.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/
• observed_at (string/null) — e.g. 2026-09-19T00:20:33Z
• license (string/null) — e.g. CMS Medicare Coverage Database — U.S. Government public data; CPT is copyright A
• attribution (string/null) — e.g. U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicare Coverage Database (https
• terminal (string/null) — null in every sample row
• reported_total (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• raw_seen (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• duplicates (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• unique_found (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• delivered (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• scope (string/null) — null in every sample row
• note (string/null) — null in every sample row

✅ What you get

• record_type (string/null) — e.g. cms_article_response_to_comment
• article_id (string/null) — e.g. 54137
• article_version (string/null) — e.g. 2
• rtc_num (string/null) — e.g. 1
• comment (string/null) — e.g. Please consider adding coverage for multiple myeloma.
• response (string/null) — e.g. CGS will add the following paragraph for multiple myeloma to the final version o
• source (string/null) — e.g. cms-article-response-to-comment-ledger
• release_date (string/null) — null in every sample row
• source_url (string/null) — e.g. https://www.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/
• observed_at (string/null) — e.g. 2026-09-19T00:07:04Z
• license (string/null) — e.g. CMS Medicare Coverage Database — U.S. Government public data; CPT is copyright A
• attribution (string/null) — e.g. U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicare Coverage Database (https
• terminal (string/null) — null in every sample row
• reported_total (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• raw_seen (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• duplicates (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• unique_found (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• delivered (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• scope (string/null) — null in every sample row
• note (string/null) — null in every sample row

⚙️ Sample inputs

1. Quick start — the Store example (this is what the sample above came from)

{
  "maxRecords": 50
}

The sample run charged exactly: 4 × $0.02 apify-actor-start + 50 × $0.02 comment_response_record = $1.08 on the Free tier — every delivered row was billed.

2. A smaller, narrowed run

{
  "maxRecords": 5
}

Caps the run at 5 rows — about $0.12 on the Free tier ($0.02 start + 5 × $0.02).

3. A full-size run

{
  "maxRecords": 2500
}

Up to 2500 rows (the schema default for maxRecords) — about $50.02 on the Free tier ($0.02 start + 2500 × $0.02) if the source has that many.

4. A filtered run

{
  "maxRecords": 50,
  "fieldMatch": {
    "response": "We have removed this language."
  }
}

Keeps only rows whose response contains We have removed this language. (a value from the sample run above), matched case-insensitively after the source is read and before the maxRecords cap, so the cap counts matches and only delivered matches are billed. searchText does the same across every column. Zero matches end the run as EMPTY_SELECTION with no row charged — if the source has moved on since that sample run, pick a value you see in your own first run. The source is still read in full — this narrows what you receive and pay for, not what the source serves.

🧾 JSON sample record

One real record from run U84m4NNMykx4BykUU, exactly as it lands in the dataset (emails masked, long text shortened):

{
  "record_type": "cms_article_response_to_comment",
  "article_id": "54137",
  "article_version": "2",
  "rtc_num": "1",
  "comment": "Please consider adding coverage for multiple myeloma.",
  "response": "CGS will add the following paragraph for multiple myeloma to the final version of the IVIG policy. Multiple Myeloma IVIG is indicated in patients with multiple myeloma to reduce the incidence of recurrent bacterial infection when the patien",
  "source": "cms-article-response-to-comment-ledger",
  "release_date": null,
  "source_url": "https://www.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-19T00:20:33Z",
  "license": "CMS Medicare Coverage Database — U.S. Government public data; CPT is copyright American Medical Association (CPT/HCPCS descriptors and free-text descriptions are excluded).",
  "attribution": "U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicare Coverage Database (https://www.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/)"
}

🔧 How it works

Source. The actor reads downloads.cms.gov, www.cms.gov — endpoints: https://downloads.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/downloads/exports/current_article.zip, https://downloads.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/downloads/exports/current_lcd.zip, https://www.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/. Public pages and feeds only; nothing behind a login.

Transport. Plain HTTPS from the Apify platform, no proxy. robots.txt is read first and a disallowed path is never fetched. Every request carries an identified contact User-Agent. Pacing: CRAWL_DELAY=0.0.

Terminal states. A run ends NORMAL, CAPPED (your cap was reached), PARTIAL (something was withheld and the message says what), GENUINE_EMPTY (the source was read and truly had nothing in scope) or BLOCKED (the source refused or changed shape — the run FAILS loud and bills nothing). A zero-row run is never reported as a silent success.

Charging. Each comment response record is charged at the moment it is pushed (comment_response_record); a row that fails to charge is not delivered, so the dataset count always equals the charged count.

🔧 How it works

Source

The official current_article.zip from downloads.cms.gov (the article_x_response_to_comment.csv member — the .mdb is not read), streamed with an early cap and header layout canaries that fail loud (unbilled) on shell body, header drift, or zero-parse.

Compliance & licence

• Public filed comment/response text only, HTML-cleaned; no commenter names are enriched or added.
• Every record carries the CMS licence (license) and attribution (attribution).

What is not done. No login, no cookie or CAPTCHA bypass, no private or personal-account data, no browser automation.

💰 Pricing example

Event	Free	Bronze	Silver	Gold
Actor Start (apify-actor-start)	$0.02	$0.02	$0.02	$0.02
Comment Response Record (comment_response_record)	$0.02	$0.018	$0.016	$0.0134

Worked at the live Free-tier price:

• 8 comment response records: $0.02 start + 8 × $0.02 = $0.18
• 25 comment response records: $0.02 start + 25 × $0.02 = $0.52
• 2500 comment response records: $0.02 start + 2500 × $0.02 = $50.02

A run that delivers zero rows charges the $0.02 start fee only. A BLOCKED run (source refused) fails loud and charges no value event. The start fee is charged once per GB of run memory; the default run memory is 4096 MB.

Yield on the sample run: NORMAL: 50 unique rows (0 duplicates collapsed). billable=50. maxRecords is a hard ceiling on what is delivered and billed, never a target.

⚖️ Legal & ToS

This actor reads public, logged-out pages and feeds published by downloads.cms.gov, www.cms.gov. It collects only what the source publishes to any visitor, keeps to the source's robots rules (checked on every run), identifies itself with a contact User-Agent, and does not access accounts, private data or anything behind authentication. Use the output in line with the source's terms and your local law; the intended use is B2B research and monitoring.

❓ FAQ

Q: Do I need an API key or a login?
A: No. The source (downloads.cms.gov, www.cms.gov) is read logged-out; the input schema has no key field and the actor carries no secrets.

Q: Why did my run return 0 rows?
A: Read the run's status message. GENUINE_EMPTY means the source was read and had nothing in scope for your input; BLOCKED means the source refused and the run failed without billing a value event — retry later or narrow the input. A zero-row run bills the start fee only.

Q: How many rows can one run return?
A: Up to maxRecords (default 2500). Raise the cap for a bigger run; you pay per delivered row.

Q: How fresh is the data?
A: Every run reads the source live at run time; nothing is cached between runs. Put it on a schedule for a continuous feed.

Q: What formats can I export?
A: The dataset downloads as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or RSS from the run's Dataset tab or the Apify API, and any run can push to a webhook or integration.

Q: How is this different from the other NexGen Watch actors actors?
A: Same output shape and billing model; this one covers downloads.cms.gov, www.cms.gov. The siblings under Related Actors cover the other sources or slices — run several on one schedule for a combined feed.

Q: Are there rate limits?
A: The actor paces itself against the source (CRAWL_DELAY=0.0) and honours its robots rules; there is no per-buyer limit beyond your Apify plan's concurrency.

🆘 Troubleshooting

• Run FAILED with BLOCKED → the source refused the request or changed its page shape → nothing was billed beyond the start fee; retry after a while, and if it persists open an Issue with the run id.
• Status says CAPPED → your cap (maxRecords) was reached → raise it for a bigger run.
• Input validation error on start → a field is outside the schema's allowed values → start from the Quick start block and change one field at a time.
• Run TIMED-OUT → a very wide request on a slow day → raise the run timeout in Run options or narrow the input; what was delivered before the timeout is still in the dataset.

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• 🏢 About NexGenData — NexGen Watch is NexGenData's fleet of more than 300 public data actors built on official sources, pay-per-result. Browse the catalog at apify.com/nexgenwatch.

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