Health · head-to-head
CMS.gov vs Humanitarian Data Exchange
CMS Provider Data Catalog exposes hundreds of Medicare quality, cost, and comparison datasets (hospitals, nursing homes, dialysis facilities, and more) through a DKAN-based metastore and datastore API that returns JSON by default and CSV on request, with no signup required. A live GET against the dataset-listing and datastore query endpoints succeeds with no credentials. A live Origin-header probe against the datastore query endpoint returns no Access-Control-Allow-Origin header on either a GET or an OPTIONS preflight, and since access needed no key at all, the stored 'API Key' auth was corrected to 'None'.
HDX is OCHA's CKAN-based catalog of over 18,000 humanitarian and public-health datasets (disease outbreaks, health-facility locations, population and displacement data) covering 250+ locations, searchable and downloadable through the standard keyless CKAN Action API (package_list, package_show, datastore_search). A live GET against data.humdata.org/api/3/action/status_show succeeds with no key, and a live Origin-header probe returns Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *, resolving the stored 'unknown' to 'yes'.
| CMS.gov | Humanitarian Data Exchange | |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | None | None |
| Pricing | free | free |
| Formats | JSON, CSV | JSON |
| CORS | no | yes |
| HTTPS | Yes | Yes |
Humanitarian Data Exchange supports CORS, while CMS.gov doesn't — pick Humanitarian Data Exchange for direct browser calls.