CMS PROPOSES MEDICARE CHANGES FOR 2008
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued its proposed rules to revise the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) for 2008. Links to both the CMS press release announcing the proposed rules and to the proposed rules themselves are contained below:
· Press Release:
· Medicare Proposed Rule:
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/physicianfeesched/downloads/CMS-1385-P.pdf?agree=yes&next=Accept
The proposed rule implements the update procedure required by the sustainable growth rate (SGR) methodology, which result in a negative 9.9% update, i.e., a decrease, in Medicare payments. CMS notes that Congress has intervened to eliminate the negative update or decrease for each of the last five years.
Med Law Blog will post an article on what we believe to be the items of most interest to physicians over the next several weeks regarding the following items: proposals to close the perceived Stark loopholes, revisions in the enrollment process for independent diagnostic testing facilities (IDTF), and establishment of mark-up prohibitions for both the technical and professional component of diagnostic tests. Following is a description of the provisions in the proposed rule by CMS:
· Updating the Geographic Practice Cost Indices (GPCI) to reflect more recent data.
· Revising certain physician payment localities according to one of three proposed options
· Using the Physician Assistance and Quality Initiative Fund (PAQI), created by TRHCA that provides $1.35 billion for physician payment and quality improvement initiatives, to extend voluntary quality reporting bonus payments into 2008.
· Requiring that persons furnishing physical and occupational therapy services to people with Medicare meet licensing, registration, or certification requirements in the state in which they practice, and that they complete an approved educational program for the services they are furnishing. The proposed rule would also change the time frames for certifying a plan of care.
· Updating regulations governing payment of certain services furnished in Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Facilities (CORF’s), to reflect payment under the MPFS. This conforms to a statutory mandate.
· Adding neurobehavioral status exams to the list of telemedicine services eligible for Medicare payment.
· Adding certain ophthalmologic imaging procedures to the list of procedures that would be subject to the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) provision that caps payment for the technical component of imaging procedures at the payment amount under the hospital outpatient prospective payment system.
· Modifying the requirements under the competitive acquisition program (CAP) for Part B drugs for verifying that a drug ordered by a physician has been administered.
· Requiring the reporting of hemoglobin or hematocrit data on claims for drugs used to treat anemia secondary to anticancer treatment.
· Modifying a number of physician self-referral provisions to close loopholes that have made the Medicare program vulnerable to abuse.
· Modifying enrollment standards for Independent Diagnostic Testing Facilities (IDTFs).
· Eliminating the exemption for computer-generated faxes from the e-prescribing standards.