Your 2011 conversion factor will be $25.5217 if Congress doesn’t fix SGR

Why This Topic Matters

It helps readers gauge the potential financial impact of the 2011 Medicare fee schedule and understand which service categories were facing policy-driven payment changes. That makes it relevant for budgeting, compliance planning, and monitoring federal reimbursement updates.

Article Sections

1. Medicare physician fee schedule and conversion factor update

   Overview of the 2011 fee schedule release, the projected physician payment change, and the broader congressional context affecting Medicare reimbursement.

2. Examples of payment impact on common services

   Illustrative discussion of how fee changes may affect selected commonly billed physician services across specialties.

3. More changes that could impact your pay

   Summary of additional CMS policy updates that may affect Medicare payment for therapy, imaging, disclosure requirements, and valuation of selected procedures.

4. Therapy service reductions

   Discussion of policy changes affecting multiple procedure reduction methodology for therapy services and the settings to which those changes apply.

5. Therapy cap

   Coverage of the 2011 outpatient therapy cap and the status of CMS exceptions authority.

6. Imaging fee cuts

   Overview of changes affecting reimbursement methodology for certain imaging services, including practice expense adjustments and equipment utilization assumptions.

7. Self-referral notification eased

   Summary of updated disclosure expectations for certain advanced imaging services furnished in-office under Medicare.

8. RVUs set for the new anterior spinal fusion with decompression code (22551)

   Discussion of CMS valuation for a newly addressed spinal fusion service and related reporting considerations for combined procedures.