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2019 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Opinion

Introduction

CMS has released the 2019 Medicare physician fee schedule and we want to know what you think. After you read our breaking news blog post on the final rule, please take a moment to share your reaction to some of the key changes in the final rule. All responses are confidential.
1.CMS won't flatten payments for level 2-4 office/outpatient visits until 2021.
Very unhappy
Unhappy
Neutral
Happy
Very happy
2.CMS won't cut payments for encounters that include an E/M visit and a procedure for the same patient on the same day.
Very unhappy
Unappy
Neutral
Happy
Very happy
3.E/M visits
Very happy
Happy
Neutral
Unhappy
Very unhappy
N/A
CMS won't pay an additional fee for primary care services when a provider reports an add-on G code with an E/M visit.
CMS won't pay an additional fee for specialty services when a provider reports an add-on G code with an E/M visit.
CMS won't allow practices to use medical decision-making as the sole element for coding E/M visits.
CMS won't allow providers to use time as the sole element for coding E/M visits.
4.Remote consults and encounters
Very happy
Happy
Neutral
Unhappy
Very unhappy
N/A
CMS will pay for interprofessional consults performed by phone, internet or electronic health record
CMS will pay for interprofessional referrals performed by phone, internet or electronic health record
CMS will pay clinicians to evaluate and follow up on pictures/video sent by patients.
CMS will pay clinicians for virtual check-ins with established patients.
5.Other new services
Very happy
Happy
Neutral
Unhappy
Very unhappy
N/A
CMS won't create a shorter prolonged service add-on code in 2019
CMS will create and cover a shorter alcohol/substance abuse assessment service.
CMS will remove the service-specific documentation requirements for alcohol/substance abuse codes G0397 and G0398
6.Merit-based incentive payment system (MIPS)
Very happy
Happy
Neutral
Unhappy
Very unhappy
N/A
CMS will set MIPS scoring as follows: Quality - 45%, cost - 15%, improvement activities - 15% and promoting interoperability - 25%
CMS won't change MIPS performance periods: Quality - full year, cost - full year, improvement activities - 90 days and promoting interoperability - 90 days.
CMS won't allow practices with 16 or more eligible clinicians to report quality measures via claims-based reporting.
CMS will add physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language therapists, audiologists, clinical psychologists and registered dieticians or nutrition professionals to the MIPS-eligible clinician category.
CMS won't add nurse midwives and clinical social workers to the MIPS eligible clinician category.
7.Please share any additional thoughts or questions you have about the final rule, including any changes that are not covered by this survey.
8.May we talk to you about your replies? If so, please provide your contact information.
Current Progress,
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