AAFP Fires Off Recommended Changes to 2016 Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule

In what has long been an annual endeavor, the AAFP once again has meticulously researched CMS' recommendations for the Medicare physician fee schedule for the coming year and sought ways to improve the proposal in family physicians' favor. The proposed 2016 schedule was published in the July 15 Federal Register.(www.gpo.gov)

In an Aug. 26 letter(28 page PDF) to CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt, the Academy made suggestions in a number of areas that most affect the day-to-day work of family physicians caring for their patients.

AAFP Board Chair Reid Blackwelder, M.D., of Kingsport, Tenn., noted the AAFP's "full support" for the creation of a payment mechanism for advance care planning services and for CMS' proposal to pay for chronic care management (CCM) services in rural health clinics and federally qualified health centers.

Blackwelder then laid out in meticulous detail how CMS should rework certain segments of the fee schedule.