CMS must do more to improve the accuracy of Medicare physician payments. 

That was the urgent message delivered via a Dec. 16 letter(2 page PDF) from AAFP Board Chair Robert Wergin, M.D., of Milford, Neb., to CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt.

The intent of the letter was to spur the agency to act on recommendations made by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in its report(www.gao.gov)titled Medicare Physician Payment Rates: Better Data and Greater Transparency Could Improve Accuracy.

The report, which called for a greater voice for primary care, was published on May 21 and delivered to specific congressional committees for review.

More than six months have passed since then, and it's not clear to the Academy that much has changed. 

"We want to learn what steps CMS has taken so far and what actions the agency is planning to take to implement the recommendations in this report," said Wergin.

The Academy also must know what other actions CMS plans to take "to improve the accuracy of Medicare payments for primary care services," he added.

The GAO report acknowledged that the AMA/Specialty Society Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC) "has a process in place to regularly review Medicare physicians' services' work relative values."