2015: More Changes Ahead

Each year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) releases a final rule on issues that impact all aspects of our health care system. The rule on the 2015 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) will directly and significantly impact payment, practice and quality. Each year the final rule becomes more and more intricate. The final rule for the CY 2005 PFS consumed 680 pages in the Federal Register, but “only” 192 pages included the actual policies within the rule. The remaining 488 pages were the accompanying addenda. For CY 2015, the policies in the final rule take up 464 pages in the Federal Register. The addendum are no longer published in the Federal Register since in today’s environment, much can and does change between the publication of the rule and the January 1 implementation date. The addenda are available for download from the CMS website. Clearly, both the number...