Ama Policy

Physician Payment Reform H-400.972

01/03/2022
Fee Schedules

It is the policy of the AMA to (1) take all necessary legal, legislative, and other action to redress the inequities in the implementation of the RBRVS, including, but not limited to, (a) reduction of allowances for new physicians; (b) the non-payment of EKG interpretations; (c) defects in the Geographic Practice Cost Indices and area designations; (d) inappropriate Resource-Based Relative Value Units; (e) the deteriorating economic condition of physicians’ practices disproportionately affected by the Medicare payment system; (f) the need for restoration of the RBRVS conversion factor to levels consistent with the statutory requirement for budget neutrality; (g) the inadequacy of payment for services of assistant surgeons; and (h) the loss of surgical-tray benefit for many outpatient procedures ( Reaffirmed by Rules & Credentials Cmt., A-96);

(2) seek an evaluation of (a) stress factors (i.e., intensity values) as they affect the calculation of the Medicare Payment Schedule, seeking appropriate, reasonable, and equitable adjustments; and (b) descriptors (i.e., vignettes) and other examples of services used to determine RBRVS values and payment levels and to seek adjustments so that the resulting values and payment levels appropriately pertain to the elderly and often infirm patients;

(3) evaluate the use of the RBRVS on the calculation of the work component of the Medicare Payment Schedule and to ascertain that the concept for the work component continues to be an appropriate part of a resource-based relative value system;

(4) seek to assure that all modifiers, including global descriptors, are well publicized and include adequate descriptors;

(5) seek the establishment of a reasonable and consistent interpretation of global fees, dealing specifically with preoperative office visits, concomitant office procedures, and/or future procedures;

(6) seek from CMS and/or Congress an additional comment period beginning in the Fall of 1992;

(7) seek the elimination of regulations directing patients to points of service;

(8) support further study of refinements in the practice cost component of the RBRVS to ensure better reflection of both absolute and relative costs associated with individual services, physician practices, and medical specialties, considering such issues as data adequacy, equity, and the degree of disruption likely to be associated with any policy change;

(9) take steps to assure that relative value units in the Medicare payment schedule, such as nursing home visits, are adjusted to account for increased resources needed to deliver care and comply with federal and state regulatory programs that disproportionately affect these services and that the Medicare conversion factor be adjusted and updated to reflect these increased overall costs;

(10) support the concepts of HR 4393 (the Medicare Geographic Data Accuracy Act of 1992), S 2680 (the Medicare Geographic Data Accuracy Act of 1992), and S 2683 (Medicare Geographic Data Accuracy Act) for improving the accuracy of the Medicare geographic practice costs indices (GPCIs) and work with CMS and the Congress to assure that GPCIs are updated in as timely a manner as feasible and reflect actual physician costs, including gross receipt taxes;

(11) request that CMS refine relative values for particular services on the basis of valid and reliable data and that CMS rely upon the work of the AMA/Specialty Society RVS Updating Committee (RUC) for assignment of relative work values to new or revised CPT codes and any other tasks for which the RUC can provide credible recommendations;

(12) pursue aggressively recognition and CMS adoption for Medicare payment schedule conversion factor updates of an index providing the best assurance of increases in the monetary conversion factor reflective of changes in physician practice costs, and to this end, to consider seriously the development of a “shadow” Medicare Economic Index;

(13) continue to implement and refine the Payment Reform Education Project to provide member physicians with accurate and timely information on developments in Medicare physician payment reform; and

(14) take steps to assure all relative value units contained in the Medicare Fee Schedule are adjusted as needed to comply with ever-increasing federal and state regulatory requirements.

Policy Timeline

Sub. Res. 109, A-92 Reaffirmed: I-92Reaffirmed by CMS Rep. 8, A-95 and Sub. Res. 124, A-95 Reaffirmation A-99 and Reaffirmed: Res. 127, A-99 Reaffirmation A-02Reaffirmation A-06 Reaffirmation I-07 Reaffirmed: BOT Rep. 14, A-08 Reaffirmation A-09 Reaffirmed: CMS Rep. 01, A-19 Reaffirmed: Res. 212, I-21