Peter G. Peterson Foundation Funds Report Rethinking How Medicare Pays for Services
For more than two decades, experts have warned that Medicare relies far too heavily on recommendations submitted by the American Medical Association’s Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC) when setting payment amounts for different physicians’ services. Moreover, because Medicare’s relative values are also used by Medicaid and private insurers, the distortions in payment caused by the existing RUC process ripple through the entire health care system.
But the importance of reform is growing, and it is essential that policymakers and stakeholders outline what changes must be made to Medicare’s current system.
In a new report, Center for American Progress outlines a new approach to setting physician payment amounts based on empirical data that also reflects today’s understanding of the importance of primary care and other nonprocedural services....