TAFP responds to CMS regarding possible E&M increases for Medicare

CMS has proposed to increase Medicare payments for the common services physicians provide, based on recommendations from the American Medical Association’s Relative-Value Committee. Boosting the payment for evaluation and management services will better reflect the work of primary care physicians to manage chronic illnesses and perform other preventative health care measures.

Recognizing the importance of this proposal as an acknowledgement of the value of primary care, TAFP leadership acted quickly to voice its support and to make suggestions to parts of the proposal that could be detrimental to primary care providers.

“Investing in increased reimbursement for E&M services will begin to correct the payment inequities in health care and will benefit the whole U.S. health care system,” TAFP President Douglas Curran, M.D., stated in a letter to CMS Administrator Mark McClellan, M.D., Ph.D., about the new measures. “ We appreciate CMS’s validation of our effort, and we strongly encourage CMS to finalize its proposal in the final rule this fall.” The letter was also sent to the Texas congressional delegation and other key contacts.

The proposal, “Medicare Program: Five-Year Review of Work Relative Value Units Under the Physician Fee Schedule and Proposed Changes to the Practice Expense Methodology,” appeared in the June 29, 2006 Federal Register. Essentially, it redistributes $4 billion for allowed charges among specialties, with family medicine seeing a 5-percent increase. CMS’ complete proposal, detailing these changes and others, can be found on the CMS Web site. CMS will accept comments from physicians until August 21, complying with the 60-day comment period, before the final rule is made on November 1. The changes would take affect in January 2007.

Read TAFP’s letter to CMS for more information. TAFP encourages members to personalize the response letter and alert CMS to the needs of family medicine.