Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

One more reason why access concerns won't sway CMS

While payments under the physician fee schedule have sunk lower and lower since the 1990s, the Government Accountability Office says access has more than stabilized - it's improved.

Spurred by physicians' predictions that a 5.4 percent pay reduction in 2002 would spell trouble for patients, the GAO looked at trends in physician claims data. Surprise: The percentage of beneficiaries who received services increased from April 2000 to April 2002 in both urban and rural areas, according to a Feb. 9 report, "Medicare Beneficiary Access" (GAO-05-145R).

The average number of office visits - which the GAO says is a key indicator of beneficiaries' access to the "entry point" of the entire health care system - also rose for fee-for-service beneficiaries.

The study also found that in 2002 there was a small increase in the number of services performed by participating physicians who submit claims on assignment. Meanwhile, the percentage of unassigned claims - which require doctors to balance bill beneficiaries - fell by 0.4 percent.