Primary Care Practitioners Get a Raise!  

Category: Billing

Primary care practitioners are getting a raise from Medicare in the form of the Primary Care Incentive Payment (PCIP) program. A provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) allows for an incentive payment to primary care practitioners for primary care services that are furnished from January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2015.

So who qualifies for this payment? Practitioners that qualify are those who are enrolled in Medicare Part B with a physician specialty designation as:

· 08-family practice,
· 11-internal medicine,
· 37-pediatrics, or
· 38-geriatrics

Non-physician primary care practitioners who qualify must have a specialty designation of:

· 50-nurse practitioner,
· 89-certified clinical nurse specialist, or
· 97-physician assistant

In addition, these specialties mus...