Medicare intends next year to allow physician assistants (PAs) to begin directly billing for their work and to expand coverage of telehealth services. It also intends to change the approach to payments for office visits and for coaching programs for diabetes prevention.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently posted its proposed 2022 physician fee schedule. Running to more than 1700 pages, the draft rule contains myriad other changes in how the giant federal health program pays for medical care, including revisions to its approach to evaluation and management (E/M) services, which represent many office visits. In addition, Medicare is seeking to increase participation in a program intended to prevent people from developing diabetes.
Physician groups posted quick complaints about a proposed 3.75% reduction to the conversion factor due to budget neutrality requirements. The cut reinstates a reduction Congress prevented late last year.
In a statement, Anders Gilberg, senior vice president of government affairs for the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), called the draft rule a “mixed bag for physician practices.” Gilberg said the MGMA will seek congressional intervention to avert the cut for services in 2022.
In keeping with a provision Congress included in a massive spending bill enacted in December, Medicare will let PAs directly bill, as nurse practitioners already can. In a press release, CMS on Tuesday described this as a move likely to expand access to care and reduce administrative burden. The American Academy of PAs last year praised the inclusion in the spending bill of the provision allowing its members to directly bill Medicare.
In the draft rule, CMS also intends to remove certain geographic restrictions regarding use of telehealth services for diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of mental health disorders. CMS also is proposing to allow payment to eligible clinicians for certain mental health and behavioral health services to patients via audio-only telephone calls. These services would include counseling and therapy services provided through opioid treatment programs.
“These changes would be particularly helpful for those in areas with poor broadband infrastructure and among people with Medicare who are not capable of, or do not consent to the use of, devices that permit a two-way, audio/video interaction for their health care visits,” CMS said in a statement.
Slimmer Medicare Enrollees, Bigger Payments for Coaches?
CMS is seeking to draw more participants to the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program (MDPP). This program includes organizations that provide structured, coach-led sessions in community and healthcare settings to help people lose weight and exercise more. During the COVID-19 public health emergency, CMS waived an enrollment fee for new suppliers of services in MDPP. CMS now is proposing to waive this fee for all organizations that submit an application to enroll in Medicare as an MDPP supplier on or after January 1, 2022.
Another proposed change in MDPP services is a restructuring of payments so that organizations involved in coaching would receive larger payments when their participants reach milestones for attendance and for becoming slimmer.
“We propose to increase performance payments for MDPP beneficiary achievement of the 5% weight loss goal, as well as continued attendance during each core maintenance interval,” CMS said in a statement.
Medicare remains engaged in a review of its payments for E/M services. In the draft rule, CMS is proposing a number of refinements to current policies for split, or shared, E/M visits, critical care services, and services furnished by teaching physicians involving residents. The intention of these changes is to “better reflect the current practice of medicine, the evolving role of non-physician practitioners (NPPs) as members of the medical team, and to clarify conditions of payment that must be met to bill Medicare for these services,” CMS said.
Kerry Dooley Young is a freelance journalist based in Washington, DC. She is the core topic leader on patient safety issues for the Association of Health Care Journalists. Young earlier covered health policy and the federal budget for Congressional Quarterly/CQ Roll Call and the pharmaceutical industry and the Food and Drug Administration for Bloomberg. Follow her on Twitter at @kdooleyyoung.
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