Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

CMS realizes importance of paying more attention to primary care. Family physicians and similar specialties can look forward to a proposed seven percent hike in Medicare pay rates in 2013, as well a potential pay increase for patients' after hospitalization care. Sneak Peek: A glimpse of how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposes to calculate Medicare pay rates for 2013 came when the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for 2013 was published in the July 30 Federal Register. Primary Care Gets a Raise In addition to the seven percent payment increase for family physicians, the proposal includes a five percent payment increase for pediatricians and internal medicine physicians.Rationale: "Helping primary care doctors will help improve patient care and lower health care costs long term," CMS Acting Administrator Marilyn B. Tavenner said in a July 6 statement.As many family medicine groups know, Congress voted earlier this year to postpone [...]