CMS Proposes Changes to Physician Fee Schedule

CMS Proposes Changes to Physician Fee Schedule, from ACEP / EM Today

Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a notice of proposed rule making that concerns changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for 2007, including a revision of physician work Relative Value Units (RVUs) that could mean an increase in emergency physician reimbursement for providing Evaluation and Management (E/M) services.

Although the values published in the proposed rule will not be final until the comment period ends and the final rule for the 2007 Medicare Fee Schedule is published in late fall, work RVUs for emergency department E/M codes should have significant increases. The actual financial impact for each member will depend on several factors such as patient volume, payer mix, service mix, and frequency distribution. The combination of these factors can have a significant impact on the total annual Medicare payment in the ED.