CMS posts final pay-cut rule; ACA, ICA urge chiropractic action

November 2006

CMS posts final pay-cut rule;
ACA, ICA urge chiropractic action

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid has posted a final rule outlining a plan to revise the way it calculates “relative value units” (RVUs) for certain services. According to the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) and the International Chiropractors Association, the rule will result significant cuts in Medicare payments for participating chiropractors beginning in January 2007.

CMS has elected to pay for increased costs related to these revisions by applying an adjustment across the work RVUs for all services. This adjustment alone results in an 8 percent cut for chiropractors, according to ACA.

ACA officials say that changes recently put forth in a final rule issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) undermine Congress’ goal of preserving patient access and achieving greater quality of care. The association is pressing for a one year delay in implementation of the rule to provide CMS more time to assess the negative impact of the changes.

ACA, along with other physicians groups (including the American Medical Association and the Alliance of Specialty Physicians) is also pressing Congress for action on another possible Medicare cut, which involves a legally mandated formula to control Medicare spending — the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR).

ACA and ICA estimate that the combination of the two cuts would result in a 13.1 percent total decrease to chiropractic reimbursement rates.

According to a recent survey of the American Medical Association, 45 percent of medical doctors will either stop accepting or decrease the number of new Medicare patients they accept if Medicare payments are cut in 2007.

The two chiropractic associations urge all chiropractors to take action immediately and contact their U.S. representative and senator to: