Physician Compensation

QDC codes themselves carry no payment for a claim. However, using the codes correctly may result in a bonus payment from Medicare, and not reporting them successfully will result in a penalty.

The proposal would help physicians dodge a 29.5 percent pay to Medicare services, but it would slam them with other - perhaps more serious - problems.

A recently unveiled study published in Health Affairs could help fuel the argument that physician fees should be on the chopping block.

RVUs determine the amount Medicare, Medicaid, and private payers compensate physicians for various services. But it’s long been questioned whether RVUs are fair.

Our 2010 Fee Schedule Survey indicates that with commercial payments narrowly keeping pace with Medicare, practices need to get paid more for the work already being done.

Congress is about to address a potential double-digit cut to physician reimbursement under the Medicare program. With a Dec. 1 deadline looming and a lame-duck session of Congress about to reconvene, the American Medical Association is urging lawmakers to take more time to find a long-term solution to declining physician payments.

Nearly every physician today is looking for ways to boost efficiency and productivity to stay profitable. So how do you achieve this goal without adding staff or compromising your patient satisfaction?

Here are some simple things you can do to help boost your revenue.

Looking for a better way to gauge physician productivity? A number of physicians' practices and hospitals are turning to relative value units (RVUs) over traditional benchmarks including charges, receipts, collections, or number of encounters. But what exactly are RVUs?