(HealthDay)—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Physician Fee Schedule does not systematically provide higher valuation of physician work per unit time for procedure/test codes than for evaluation and management (E/M) codes, according to a study published online Sept. 18 in the Annals of Surgery.
Kevin A. Kerber, M.D., from the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor, and colleagues evaluated data regarding relative value units (RVUs), physician work times (minutes), and claims for all active level I Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes (6,522 CPT codes: 87 E/M codes and 6,435 procedure/test codes) from 2011 CMS files.
The researchers found that procedure/test codes did not have a significant difference in work RVUs adjusting for time (−0.631; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], −1.427 to 0.166), compared with E/M codes. When adjusting for time, there was not a work RVU advantage specifically for surgical CPT codes compared with E/M (−0.760; 95 percent CI, −1.560 to 0.040). After weighting codes by the number of claims, the results were similar, indicating that an increase in RVUs per minute was not concentrated in a small number of highly utilized procedure codes.
"We did not find evidence of a systematic higher valuation of physician work in procedure/test codes than in E/M codes in the CMS RVU system," the authors write.
Several authors are involved with the RVS Update Committee.
Explore further: Think the system for paying US doctors is rigged to favor surgeons? Study may surprise you
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(HealthDay)—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Physician Fee Schedule does not systematically provide higher valuation of physician work per unit time for procedure/test codes than for evaluation and management (E/M) codes, according to a study published online Sept. 18 in the Annals of Surgery.
Kevin A. Kerber, M.D., from the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor, and colleagues evaluated data regarding relative value units (RVUs), physician work times (minutes), and claims for all active level I Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes (6,522 CPT codes: 87 E/M codes and 6,435 procedure/test codes) from 2011 CMS files.
The researchers found that procedure/test codes did not have a significant difference in work RVUs adjusting for time (−0.631; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], −1.427 to 0.166), compared with E/M codes. When adjusting for time, there was not a work RVU advantage specifically for surgical CPT codes compared with E/M (−0.760; 95 percent CI, −1.560 to 0.040). After weighting codes by the number of claims, the results were similar, indicating that an increase in RVUs per minute was not concentrated in a small number of highly utilized procedure codes.
"We did not find evidence of a systematic higher valuation of physician work in procedure/test codes than in E/M codes in the CMS RVU system," the authors write.
Several authors are involved with the RVS Update Committee.
Explore further: Think the system for paying US doctors is rigged to favor surgeons? Study may surprise you
More information: Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)
Copyright © 2014 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Medical Xpress on facebook
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Think the system for paying US doctors is rigged to favor surgeons? Study may surprise you
Sep 22, 2014
A surprising new study pulls back the curtain on one of the most contentious issues in health care: differences in payment and income between physicians who perform operations, procedures or tests, and those who don't.
Relative value units useful in evaluating practice finances
Mar 07, 2014
(HealthDay)—The Relative Value Unit (RVU) is a useful tool for managing practice finances, according to an article published Feb. 25 in Medical Economics.
Extra time spent counseling, coordinating care billable
Aug 14, 2014
(HealthDay)—Extra time spent counseling patients and coordinating care can be billed using evaluation and management (E/M) and prolonged service codes, according to an article published July 24 in Medical Ec ...
Transition to ICD-10 may cause information, financial losses for providers
Mar 12, 2014
Health providers may experience information and financial loss during the mandated conversion from the current International Classification of Diseases to its new and improved version, report researchers at the University ...
Child maltreatment underreported in Medicaid claims, study finds
Sep 25, 2014
(Medical Xpress)—Medicaid claims are a poor way to identify child abuse and neglect at a population level, according to a study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.
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Hospital charges for adolescent scoliosis surgery up
Oct 03, 2014
(HealthDay)—Over the last decade, the number of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) fusion procedures has remained constant, although hospital charges for the procedure have increased substantially, according ...
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Oct 03, 2014
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Oct 02, 2014
The effectiveness of a treatment to reduce blood clots among otolaryngology patients admitted for surgery appears to differ based on patient risk and the procedure.
Program improves instrument cost efficiency of spine surgery
Oct 02, 2014
(HealthDay)—Applying principles of Lean management may optimize instrument utilization for spine surgery, according to research published in the Sept. 15 issue of Spine.
Hospitals with aggressive treatment styles had lower failure-to-rescue rates
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