MedPAC to recommend physician fee schedule update in June report

At its April meeting, the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee (MedPAC) voted to include in its June report to Congress the following recommendations, according to the American College of Radiology (ACR):

• Congress should replace current-law updates to the physician fee schedule with an annual update based on a portion of the growth in the Medicare Economic Index (MEI), such as MEI minus one percentage point.
• Congress should direct the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary to improve the accuracy of Medicare’s relative payment rates for clinician services by collecting and using timely data that reflects the costs of delivering care.

MedPAC is an independent congressional agency that advises Congress about issues affecting the Medicare program, the ACR noted.