Revised ‘08 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Now Available
[Posted 01/07/08]

The revised 2008 Medicare physician fee schedule is now available at the NHIC website. In the waning hours of the 2007 legislative session, Congress passed a Medicare bill that postpones the 10 percent physician payment cut and instead provides a 0.5 percent increase for six months. The new fee schedule reflects this small increase.

Although Congress stopped the 10 percent across-the-board payment cut, physician reimbursement for many services will be lower in 2008 than in 2007 because of adjustments to the practice expense and work RVUs and geographic payment formula. (The payment amount for each service under the Medicare fee schedule is the product of three factors: nationally uniform relative-value units (RVUs) for work and practice expenses; a geographic adjustment factor; and a nationally uniform conversion factor, which is used to convert RVUs into payment amounts.)

Physicians are encouraged to assess the impact the Medicare payment changes will have on their practices. It is important that physicians understand how the new fee schedule will affect their bottom line so that they can make informed decisions about Medicare participation for 2008.

Because Congress acted very late in the session to stop the physician pay cut, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has reopened the participation decision period for an additional 45 days. Physicians have until February 15 to make any changes to your participation status. However, all status changes will be effective January 1, 2008.

Physicians are still faced with a 10 percent payment reduction on July 1, unless Congress revamps the hopelessly broken formula used to calculate physician pay (or acts again with another last-minute fix). With this cut looming, participation decisions become more complicated. While it is possible that CMS will again reopen the participation decision period, there is no guarantee that CMS will allow physicians to change their participation status in July, should the cut go into effect.

Click here for more information on your participation options.

CMA will continue to fight aggressively for physicians and patients and will not relent until Congress reaches a long-term agreement to overhaul the Medicare physician payment system. Physicians cannot continue to practice in such an unstable environment, waiting year after year for Congress to act at the last minute to reverse such devastating cuts.

Contact: CMA's Reimbursement Help Line, 888/401-5911 or drice@cmanet.org.