Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule Released Save

In a news release published today, the American College of Rheumatology commended the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for making long-awaited updates to cognitive care reimbursement in its CY 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) final rule.

The final rule provides much-needed increases in Medicare reimbursement for the evaluation and management (E/M) services provided by rheumatologists and other cognitive care specialties to Medicare beneficiaries, according to the ACR. 

“For many years, Medicare reimbursement did not adequately reflect the time and skill required to provide high-quality cognitive care, including rheumatology care,” said David Karp, MD, PhD, president of the ACR. “These updates are critical to the future of the rheumatology specialty and the continued delivery of high-quality rheumatology care for millions of Medicare beneficiaries.” 

In 2018, CMS proposed a code collapse that would have resulted in significant cuts to rheumatology care provided to Medicare beneficiaries. However, after hearing the concerns raised by the patient and specialty provider community, CMS finalized a new proposal that reflects the recommendations of the American Medical Association, the ACR and over 170 other specialty societies and state medical associations.

The reimbursement updates will go into effect on January 1, 2021. Read more for complete details.