Highlighting the 2012 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule  

Category: Coding

Contained within the 2012 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) Final Rule were a plethora of important provisions that will impact providers in various ways. The following article will highlight some of these significant changes that will take effect in 2012.

Conversion factors

Let's start with the conversion factors (CF).  Absent any Congressional action, the calendar year 2012 PFS CF is $24.6712.  For comparison purposes, the 2011 CF is presently $33.9764.  For anesthesia, the calendar year 2012 national average anesthesia CF is $15.5264, down from the 2011 CF that is currently in effect at $21.0515.  Congress will undoubtedly take action to prevent these drastic cuts in the conversion factors.

Expanding the multiple procedure payment reduction

CMS will be applying a multiple procedure payment reduction (MPPR) to the profess...