Practice Management Alert

Question: There's so much talk about the 2007 physician fee schedule and whether we-ll face large reductions in payments. Can you tell me what the latest news is?

Idaho Subscriber Answer: The good news is that Congress acted at the very last minute to prevent a steep cut to your reimbursement in January
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The numbers: To keep the reimbursement rate the same, Congress approved a freeze, that if passed, will keep the conversion factor (CF) at the current 2006 rate of 37.8975 instead of decreasing it to the scheduled 2007 rate of 35.9848. -President Bush is expected to sign the measure in the next week,- says Robert B. Doherty, senior vice president of governmental affairs and public policy for the American College of Physicians, in a press release.

Caution: A freeze, however, does not mean code payments will remain the same in 2007. The CF tells only part of the story. To calculate a code's payment, you also need to look at any changes to the code's work and practice expense (PE) relative value units (RVUs).

Bottom line: Not only does the new law eliminate your 5 percent pay cut for 2007, it also creates a fund to stabilize payments in 2008. Many physician organizations had been worried that Congress could get rid of the 2007 cut, only to end up with a 10 percent cut in 2008 to compensate.