After years of temporary “doc fixes,” on April 15, Congress passed H.R. 2, known as the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA).1 Widely lauded as the solution to the outdated and unfair Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula’s limitations on physician payments for professional services, MACRA imposes a new set of rules and regulations, many yet to be developed to shape Medicare from a fee-for-service (FFS) payment system to one that encourages participation and reporting in both a valued-based payment system and in alternate payment systems. MACRA immediately repealed the SGR, but also defined a new set of rules, regulations, payments and penalties. All are focused upon reporting of quality and to the contribution of savings in health care costs.
For services paid under the physician fee schedule and furnished during calendar years 2016 through 2019, Medicare’s conversion factor rates will increase by 0.5 percent a year. The conversion...
