CMS Proposes Medicare Changes to Increase Payments for Primary Care Services

OPEN MINDS Weekly News Wire Strategic Health Care News For 2010, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule which are expected to increase payment rates by six to eight percent for primary care providers in geriatrics, family practice, general practice, and internal medicine. Some of the changes are expected to reduce payment rates for specialist services. These changes incorporate data about physicians’ practice costs from a survey designed and conducted by the American Medical Association. However, despite the changes, payment rates for most physicians are expected to drop by 21 . . .