Revision to CMS Conversion Factors

On Dec 30, 2014, ASA notified members that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) was implementing a claims processing hold for services provided from Jan 1 – Jan 14, 2015 due to technical reasons. 

ASA has since learned that CMS has revised the conversion factors that will apply to services performed from Jan 1 through March 31, 2015, the date at which the current sustainable growth rate (SGR) patch expires.  Further, there have been both upward and downward adjustments of some of the relative value units (RVUs) for some procedures paid under the Resource Based Relative Value System (RBRVS).

Below are the updated conversion factors:

	Anesthesia CF	RBRVS CF
As published in CY2015 Final Rule	$22.5550	$35.8013
As revised December 2014	$22.4968	$35.7547

The recently announced CMS revision to the Medicare Anesthesia Conversion Factor from $22.5550 to $22.4968 also impacts the locale-specific conversion factors.  

Watch the ASA website for further updates on the conversion factors for services provided on/after April 1, 2015.  More information will be posted as it becomes available.