Proposed CMS conversion factor 2023

[ambiturner]

Got an email today that the proposed anesthesia conversion factor will be $20.71, a 4% decrease from this year. Physician Fee schedule is down 4.4% to $33.08.

I know I’m beating a dead horse here, but with inflation at 8% (conservatively) that’s at least a 12% decrease in real reimbursement, at a time when government employees got 9% raises and Medicare fees for seniors were raised 14%. Hopefully there’s enough pressure to get it changed but the continued chipping away of clinical revenues will eventually become a problem when provider shortages improve and hospitals/national groups are less willing to subsidize.

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[Hoya11]

Got an email today that the proposed anesthesia conversion factor will be $20.71, a 4% decrease from this year. Physician Fee schedule is down 4.4% to $33.08.

I know I’m beating a dead horse here, but with inflation at 8% (conservatively) that’s at least a 12% decrease in real reimbursement, at a time when government employees got 9% raises and Medicare fees for seniors were raised 14%. Hopefully there’s enough pressure to get it changed but the continued chipping away of clinical revenues will eventually become a problem when provider shortages improve and hospitals/national groups are less willing to subsidize.

agree.. its unbelievable. especially in the face of covid and the extreme shortage. i cant understand it..

 

[BLADEMDA]

agree.. its unbelievable. especially in the face of covid and the extreme shortage. i cant understand it..

This has been going on for decades. Look at a chart of real CMS reimbursement rates with inflation factored in. Anesthesia has been crushed.

When the ASA mean is applied to the CY2022 CMS proposed conversion factor, anesthesia reimbursement by CMS is approximately 26% that of commercial payors!

The 26% Problem in Anesthesia

Anesthesia reimbursement is taking a hit - again - under the proposed CY2022 Physician Fee Schedule released by CMS last week. The anesthesia conversion factor (unit rate by which you multiply base, time and any modifying units to arrive at your expected case payment), is scheduled to drop to $21.

www.linkedin.com

 

[GassYous]

Insanity. The patients are getting sicker, the work is less fulfilling and the pay is lower. Why even pay at 20? Why not just say zero and call it a day?

 

[CHARLESTONMMM]

They are forcing everyone to be reliant on hospital subsidies which will eventually force hospital employment. The hospitals are the only ones who can survive on a majority Medicare payer mix. We need to do everything in our power to make sure hospital bylaws ensure we are valuable members of the hospital.

 

[vm26]

Got an email today that the proposed anesthesia conversion factor will be $20.71, a 4% decrease from this year. Physician Fee schedule is down 4.4% to $33.08.

I know I’m beating a dead horse here, but with inflation at 8% (conservatively) that’s at least a 12% decrease in real reimbursement, at a time when government employees got 9% raises and Medicare fees for seniors were raised 14%. Hopefully there’s enough pressure to get it changed but the continued chipping away of clinical revenues will eventually become a problem when provider shortages improve and hospitals/national groups are less willing to subsidize.

Different field (rads) but similar email and reaction. I wonder if the end game is to destroy independent PP and make everyone an employee...It's such a bizarre situation. Physicians have traditionally benefited from fee-for-service and the capitalistic aspect of our HC systems, however the whole CMS situation (eg. we do what want so just deal with) is such a freak'n thorn in our side. Every year its cuts....Not sure how this all plays out. Near impossible to hire radiologists these days, in part due to baby boomer retirements, never ending increased volume, and fixed # of residency spots. Most rad PP groups do not receive subsidies from hospitals but this seems to be slowly changing.

 

[vm26]

They are forcing everyone to be reliant on hospital subsidies which will eventually force hospital employment. The hospitals are the only ones who can survive on a majority Medicare payer mix. We need to do everything in our power to make sure hospital bylaws ensure we are valuable members of the hospital.

What is the ballpark % of PP anesthesia groups that receive subsidies?

 

[Hoya11]

What is the ballpark % of PP anesthesia groups that receive subsidies?

its hard to say because when you ask for a subsidy you are very likely to be either replaced or changed to forced employment

 

[GassYous]

I just think it's amazing that when you get services from a physician, the payors don't blink at throwing tens of thousands at the hospital but can't stand paying the doctor a reasonable fee. I do an anesthetic and make a few hundred, the proceduralist makes a thousand and the hospital takes home fifty grand.

Look at the crazy drug pricing they approve. We have a new alzheimer's drug that does nothing, costs nearly 30k a year for a non productive population, comes prepackaged in a way that causes massive drug waste (although it is a sham drug) and medicare is having serious discussions about paying for this nonsense. Meanwhile propofol works every time.

 

[Hoya11]

I just think it's amazing that when you get services from a physician, the payors don't blink at throwing tens of thousands at the hospital but can't stand paying the doctor a reasonable fee. I do an anesthetic and make a few hundred, the proceduralist makes a thousand and the hospital takes home fifty grand.

Look at the crazy drug pricing they approve. We have a new alzheimer's drug that does nothing, costs nearly 30k a year for a non productive population, comes prepackaged in a way that causes massive drug waste (although it is a sham drug) and medicare is having serious discussions about paying for this nonsense. Meanwhile propofol works every time.

How about dextenza for cataracts ??

 

[aneftp]

Got an email today that the proposed anesthesia conversion factor will be $20.71, a 4% decrease from this year. Physician Fee schedule is down 4.4% to $33.08.

I know I’m beating a dead horse here, but with inflation at 8% (conservatively) that’s at least a 12% decrease in real reimbursement, at a time when government employees got 9% raises and Medicare fees for seniors were raised 14%. Hopefully there’s enough pressure to get it changed but the continued chipping away of clinical revenues will eventually become a problem when provider shortages improve and hospitals/national groups are less willing to subsidize.

Government pay raise is 4.6% for 2023. That’s only for the “base” pay. Most federal doctors I know their base pay is only 100k and their “locality” pay is 150-200k. So doctors pay raise is only based on their base pay of 100k and not the combined base plus locality pay. So docs getting approximately $4500 pay raise.

Here’s What Needs to Happen for the 2023 Federal Employee Pay Raise

Although the Biden administration and lawmakers appear set on providing feds an average 4.6% pay increase next year, things could change before the end of the year.

www.govexec.com