CMS Announces Medicare Physician
Fee Schedule Final Rule
November 7, 2003 - The Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS) Nov. 7 published the 2004 Medicare
Physician Fee Schedule final
rule. The rule will take effect Jan. 1, 2004. There were
a number of major cuts in the final rule:
- A 4.5 percent decrease in the Conversion Factor (CF).
The 2004 CF will be $35.1339 down from $36.7856 in 2003;
- An overall reduction of -0.57 percent in Physician
Work RVUs; and
- An overall reduction of -0.77 percent in Practice Expense
RVUs.
The AAMC objected to the reduction in RVU values and the
overall reduction to the CF in its October 3, 2003 comment
letter
on the proposed rule.
In other changes, CMS increased the Professional Liability
Insurance (PLI) RVUs by 19.86 percent to reflect the rapid
increase in professional liability premiums in recent years.
CMS also stated that they will continue to monitor the PLI
situation, gather PLI data from new sources including state
insurance commissioners and make adjustments to the multiple
components in the fee schedule that reflect professional liability
insurance premiums each year. CMS also announced in the final
rule that they will allow teaching anesthesiologists to bill
for two concurrent anesthesia services involving residents
starting Jan. 1, 2004.
As part of Congressional mandates, CMS must calculate impacts
of changes in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. In recent
years, CMS has estimated the impact of the fee schedule changes
on the general physician community by specialty (see Table
27 of the Final Rule). In the coming months, AAMC will be
assessing the impact of these changes on academic physicians
by specialty.
Information:
Denise Dodero, Associate Vice President
AAMC Health Care Affairs
ddodero@aamc.org
(202) 828-0493
Richard Chard<rchard@aamc.org>
202-862-6297, AAMC
Division of Health Care Affairs
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