What garners attention when it comes to Medicare's payment ratesfor physicians is the annual drama over possible 11th-hour congressionalintervention to prevent cuts under the sustainable growth rateformula. But behind the scenes, Medicare policymakers have beenfocusing on another aspect of the periodic adjustments: theupdating of the relative values in the physician fee scheduleand the accuracy of the data on which it relies. Since 1992,Medicare has paid physicians through a fee schedule accordingto a resource-based relative-value scale (RBRVS). This approachwas intended to address distortions produced by basing paymentson prevailing charges, which had . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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Dr. Ginsburg is the president of the Center for Studying Health System Change, Washington, DC, where Dr. Berenson is a senior consulting researcher. Dr. Berenson is also a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, Washington, DC.
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