On July 19, 2013, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published its proposed rule updating Medicare physician fee schedule (PFS) rates and polices for calendar year (CY) 2014. CMS projects that PFS payments will be reduced by approximately 24.4% in 2014, largely due to the statutory Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) update formula (although Congress is expected to eventually take action to block the automatic cuts, as it has in the past). The rule also includes a number of significant policy proposals, including the following highlights:

  • Under the proposed rule, CMS projects an estimated 2014 conversion factor of $25.7109, adjusted to $26.8199 to include a budget neutrality adjustment, compared to the 2013 conversion factor of $34.0230. As noted, Congress could override the SGR formula on either a temporary or permanent basis, but the timing and scope of any such action is uncertain. Reimbursement changes for individual procedures would vary based on numerous other policy proposals and updates.
  • Under its potentially misvalued code initiative, CMS is proposing to reduce PFS rates for more than 200 codes if Medicare physician office payment exceeds the payment in the outpatient hospital department or ambulatory surgical center (ASC) setting. CMS proposes limiting PFS payment in such cases to the total payment that Medicare would make to the practitioner and the facility when the service is furnished in a hospital outpatient department or ASC. Certain services would be exempt from this provision, including services without separate hospital outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) payment rates and codes already subject to cuts pursuant to the Deficit Reduction Act imaging cap, among others). CMS estimates that this policy would have the biggest negative impact on allowed charges for independent laboratory PFS payments, radiation therapy center services, and pathology services. CMS also proposes to examine other specific codes as part of the agency's ongoing review of misvalued codes.
  • CMS proposes to make payments for non-face-to-face complex chronic care management services for Medicare beneficiaries who have multiple (two or more) significant chronic conditions. This provision would be implemented in 2015 to provide sufficient time to develop and obtain public input on the standards necessary to demonstrate the capability to provide these services.
  • CMS proposes to modify the definition of eligible telehealth originating sites to include health professional shortage areas (HPSAs) located in rural census tracts of urban areas as determined by the Office of Rural Health Policy, which CMS expects to result in the inclusion of additional HPSAs as areas for telehealth originating sites. CMS also proposes adding transitional care management services to the list of eligible Medicare telehealth services.
  • CMS proposes to continue implementation of the physician value-based payment modifier (Value Modifier), which was mandated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to reward physicians for providing higher quality and more efficient care. The Value Modifier is being phased in from CY 2015 to CY 2017, with CY 2013 serving as the initial performance period for the CY 2015 Value Modifier. In the proposed 2014 rule, CMS calls for the value modifier to apply to groups of 10 or more eligible physicians in 2016 (compared to groups of 100 or more in 2015), and increases the amount of payment at risk from 1% to 2% in 2016. CMS also proposes to refine the methodologies used to calculate the value-based payment modifier to better identify both high and low performers for upward and downward payment adjustments.
  • CMS proposes to amend the "incident to" regulations to require that services and supplies be furnished in accordance with applicable state law, and that the individual performing "incident to" services meet any applicable requirements to provide the services, including state licensure requirements. CMS is proposing this policy to ensure that auxiliary personnel providing services to Medicare beneficiaries incident to the services of other practitioners do so in accordance with applicable state requirements, and to ensure that Medicare payments can be recovered when such services are not furnished in compliance with the state law.
  • CMS proposes a process to systematically reexamine payment amounts under the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS) to determine if changes in technology for the delivery of that service (e.g., changes to the tools, machines, supplies, labor, instruments, skills, techniques, and devices by which laboratory tests are produced and used) warrant an adjustment to the payment amount. Beginning with the CY 2015 PFS proposed rule, CMS would identify the test code, discuss how it has been impacted by technological changes, and propose an associated payment adjustment. CMS would solicit comments, and any payment adjustment would be adopted in the final rule, beginning with the CY 2015 final rule. CMS would first examine the codes that have been on the CLFS the longest and then work forward, over multiple years, until all of the codes on the CLFS have been reviewed.
  • CMS proposes a centralized review process under which a single entity would be responsible for making Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) coverage decisions. The rule also would establish minimum standards for IDE studies and trials for which Medicare coverage of devices or routine items and services is provided (including pivotal study and superiority study design criteria).
  • CMS proposes to apply the outpatient therapy cap limitations and related policies to outpatient therapy services furnished in a critical access hospital beginning on January 1, 2014, in conformance with the American Taxpayers Relief Act (ATRA).
  • The sweeping rule also addresses, among many other things: updates to the geographic practice cost indices (GPCIs) and revisions to the weights assigned to each GPCI to increase the weight of work and reduce the weight of practice expense; revisions to the calculation of the Medicare Economic Index (MEI); revisions to the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) and the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive program; revisions to regulations regarding liability for overpayments to conform to ATRA provisions with regard to the timing of the triggering event for the ''without fault'' and ''against equity and good conscience'' presumptions; and updates to the ambulance fee schedule regulations to conform with statutory requirements.

The comment deadline is September 6, 2013.

This article is presented for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice.