If approved, a new rule could end the entrenched pay advantages for specialists like surgeons over other doctors.The New York Times reports that a new rule, if approved, could put an end to the long-standing pay advantages that specialists like surgeons have over other doctors. For years, the American Medical Association (A.M.A.) has been responsible for determining the prices that Medicare pays doctors for different medical services. This process involves a secret committee that decides the difficulty and time demands of each type of medical visit, test, and procedure, and then recommends to Medicare how much doctors should be paid for performing them. However, critics have argued that this system unfairly favors specialists over primary care physicians and other generalists.
The reason why Medicare officials have been hesitant to change this system is that it has spared them from the burden of making pricing decisions and dealing with the politics involved in resolving conflicts between different groups of physicians. However, buried within a 1,803-page proposed regulation published last Monday, the Trump administration has suggested a move away from this system. If finalized, this change could overturn the entrenched pay advantages for certain types of doctors.
According to Chris Klomp, a deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, this change is part of the administration’s efforts to modernize Medicare by correcting outdated assumptions in how physician services are valued. The article concludes by urging readers to enable JavaScript in their browser settings if they are having trouble accessing the content, and to subscribe to The New York Times for full access to their articles.
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