January 2003

Bad news: CMS reduces fees for 2003

MEDICAL NEWSWIRE – Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services chief Tom Scully was the apparently reluctant bearer of bad tidings for physicians Dec. 20, unveiling a 2003 fee schedule that significantly cuts payments for Part B providers.

The holiday lump of coal cuts physician payments by 4.4 percent – not as bad as the 5.1 percent originally anticipated, but still a significant blow. The fee schedule – which was published in the Dec. 31 Federal Register – takes effect March 1, 2003.

Scully maintains that his hands were tied on the reimbursement issue – only Congress, he contends, can implement a fix, since the formula used to calculate payment rates is prescribed in federal law. "Nothing would make us happier than to not be issuing this rule today," Scully said Dec. 20. "But after months of extensive review of the law and the formula, it is clear that this is the appropriate update required by the existing statute."

The Bush administration, he says, "has been, and continues to be, anxious to work with Congress to fix the flaws in the formula – as soon as possible."

According to D. Henry Leavitt, president of ChiroCode Institute (www.chirocode.com), the revised fee schedule results in “approximately $2 less for every 98940 Code service performed across America for 2003.” Leavitt says that even the fee reductions affect all chiropractors, even those who don’t see Medicare patients, because the majority of all payers use the Medicare Fee schedule as a base.

To see the fee schedule, go to http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a021231c.html

Sources: Medical Newswire; ChiroCode Institute.

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