Medicare: Geographic Areas Used to Adjust Physician Payments for Variation in Practice Costs Should Be Revised

United States. Government Accountability Office.

United States. Government Accountability Office.

关键词: Government accountability -- United States.;    health care;    medicare;    letter report;   

RP-ID  :  GAO-07-466
RP-ID  :  263204

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) adjusts Medicare physician fees for geographic differences in the costs of operating a medical practice. CMS uses 89 physician payment localities among which fees are adjusted. Concerns have been raised that the boundaries of some payment localities do not accurately address variations in physicians' costs. GAO was asked to examine how CMS has revised the localities; the extent to which they accurately reflect variations in physicians' costs; and alternative approaches to constructing the localities. To do so, GAO reviewed selected Federal Register documents; compared data on the costs physicians incur in different areas with the Medicare geographic adjustment; and used the physician cost data to construct and evaluate alternative approaches."