CMS just got an earful from the ACR on the proposed 2015 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. At 38 pages long, the letter covered the gamut of concerns—the savaging of individual codes, a matter of pre-study bias and a litany of woes pertaining to dubious methods of calculating practice expenses.
All of this was more or less predictable: Thoughtful responses are given to questions asked by CMS, and pointed questions on proposals of an arbitrary nature are posed by the ACR. The big surprise, for this bystander, was the amount of verbiage spent on quality measures—15 of the 38 pages addressed the arcane and growing regulatory framework for Medicare’s transition to value-based care: PQRS, TPS, QCDR, QRUR, MSSP, MAV, NQS, VM, HOQR, and VBP (not to mention Physician Compare and Hospital Compare).
If you know what all of those acronyms represent, I’m impressed.
Clearly, this document foreshadows the growing administrative burden of getting paid in medicine. The penalties and upside associated with all of these—and other programs that will emerge in coming years—will add up to a greater percentage of practice and hospital revenue. Demographics promise that Medicare will account for a growing percentage of your patient base.
No one in medicine has ever found compliance to be the most pleasant aspect of medicine, but it may become the most lucrative. Ignore these programs at your peril.
Vice President, Executive Editor, Radiology Business
Cheryl began her career in journalism when Wite-Out was a relatively new technology. During the past 16 years, she has covered radiology and followed developments in healthcare policy. She holds a BA in History from the University of Delaware and likes nothing better than a good story, well told.