preview

The Medicare Modernization Act ( Mma )

Decent Essays

Background
Since the late 1980s, Medicare has reimbursed physician services using the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS), which encompasses 10,000 procedure codes. Each code is assigned resource-based relative value units (RVUs), which are designed to reflect physician work, practice expense, and malpractice expense. To adjust for local differences in cost of living, each RVU is modified using geographic practice cost indexes (GPCIs) and then converted to dollars using a “conversion factor.” This system rewards physicians who produce a high volume of services; not surprisingly, Medicare Part B expenditures have grown rapidly.
In FY 1998, the SGR was introduced as an attempt to better manage this spending growth by taking into account several factors, including the expansion of the overall economy. However, because this system didn’t fundamentally change the economics of the program, it did not achieve its original objective.
With enactment of the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) in 2003, Medicare began moving toward value-based payments, and the introduction of Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 meant that Medicare accelerated its use of value-based payments as a means of improving outcomes and managing overall costs (Wofford, 2015).
The care delivery enterprise must be re-tooled so that it functions in a fee-for-value reimbursement environment as is has in a fee-for-service reimbursement environment. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is leading the

Get Access