Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Only Select Number Of Doctors To Get Pay Increase Through Medicare Performance Program
Modern Healthcare: Few Doctors See Medicare Pay Bumps For Care Quality
Few doctors will benefit this year from a Medicare pay-for-performance program that promised more money if they hit key quality metrics in patient care. Only 20,000 clinicians will receive a pay bump of 6.6% to 19.9% this year based on how they performed in the final year of the value-based modifier program, which ended in 2016. However, "the overwhelming majority of clinicians received neutral payment adjustments," the CMS said in a notice. There are roughly 1.1 million clinicians that bill Medicare annually. The CMS is withholding raises from some providers this year because they did not submit the data necessary to be evaluated. (Dickson, 1/22)
In other Medicare news —
Modern Healthcare: CMS Cancels Plans To Expedite Medicare Coverage On Devices
The CMS has called off plans to create a new regulatory pathway that would have accelerated granting Medicare coverage for medical devices. The agency withdrew a proposed rulemaking that would have launched the expedited coverage of innovative technology, or EXCITE, from review at the White House's Office of Management and Budget this month. The proposal had languished at the executive branch for nine months. (Dickson, 1/22)
