Proposed 2010 Medicare fee schedule includes a 21.5% physician payment cut

A proposed rule on the 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule calls for a 21.5% reduction in physician payments, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced.

The 21.5% cut stems from the sustainable growth rate (SGR), a factor in the Medicare payment formula, and intervention by Congress to stall earlier payment cuts, the CMS said in a news release.

"As you know, there can be no meaningful health care reform without long-term reforms to the Medicare physician payment system, which is based on the flawed SGR formula, and the physician community does not support another short-term 'fix' that only temporarily prevents Medicare payment cuts," according to an American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery news release.

However, based on data from the Physician Practice Information Survey, conducted by the American Medical Association, the CMS plans to increase ophthalmology's practice expense per hour from $103.28 to $170.08, yielding an overall 11% increase in ophthalmic services, the ASCRS release said.

The proposed fee schedule also adds two ophthalmic measures to the Physicians Quality Reporting Initiative: 20/40 or better visual acuity within 90 days after cataract surgery and postop complications within 30 days after cataract surgery that require additional surgery, the ASCRS said.

In addition, the CMS has proposed removing physician-administered drugs from the definition of "physician services."

The CMS will accept comment on the proposed rule until Aug. 31 and is scheduled to issue a final rule by Nov. 1, the agency said.