ASA Comment Letter on 2012 CMS Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule

In mid-July, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) seeking comment on a proposed ruled that addressed changes to the “Medicare Program; Payment Policies Under the Physician Fee Schedule and Other Revisions to part B for CY 2012.”  

ASA offered comments on a number of areas impacting anesthesiology:

-Improvements to the physician feedback program and establishment of the value-based payment modifier program
-Potentially misvalued services under the physician fee schedule
-Code specific issues including site of service anomalies, Epidural Lysis, Intrathecal Epidural Catheters and Pumps and Neurostimulators
-Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS)
-Anesthesia Conversion Factor
-Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program
-Medicare Telehealth Services for the Physician Fee Schedule

Read the comments ASA submitted to CMS.