ACR Preliminary Summary of Radiology Provisions in the 2017 MPFS Proposed Rule

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) proposed rule on Thursday, July 7. Upon initial review, the American College of Radiology (ACR) is pleased with several provisions within the rule. CMS has recognized the value provided by radiologists in providing mammography services through an increase in the physician work relative value units (RVUs) for diagnostic mammography and maintaining the current value for screening mammography. Additionally, ACR physicians and staff held numerous conference calls and meetings with CMS on the topic of appropriate use criteria (AUC)/clinical decision support (CDS), including a comprehensive stakeholder meeting in January and feel that CMS is considering input from all stakeholders. Conversion Factor and CMS Overall Impact Estimates CMS estimates a CY 2017 conversion factor of $35.7551, which reflects the 0.5 percent update specified by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, a budget neutrality adjustment, and an adjustment due to the non-budget neutral 5 percent multiple procedure payment reduction for the professional component of imaging services. Overall, this is a slight decrease from the current conversion factor of $35.8043. CMS estimates an overall impact of the MPFS proposed changes to radiology to be a 1 percent decrease, while interventional radiology would see an aggregate decrease of 7 percent and radiation oncology and nuclear medicine a 0 percent chan...
Source: American College of Radiology - Category: Radiology Source Type: news