Fee schedule 2009: No cuts, bright spots for urology

Why This Topic Matters

Urology practices need to understand annual Medicare fee schedule and outpatient payment updates because even modest policy shifts can affect reimbursement, site-of-service decisions, and procedure availability in office, ASC, and hospital outpatient settings.

Article Sections

1. Physician fee schedule overview

   General discussion of the 2009 Medicare physician fee schedule and the broader payment environment for urologists. It includes the article’s framing of national payment updates and the organizations and policy changes involved.

2. Highlights

   A summary of selected urology procedures affected by the 2009 physician fee schedule. This section focuses on broad fee changes across different service settings.

3. Coder's alert

   A coding-focused update on revisions affecting transurethral prostate resection reporting in 2009. It discusses related coding and modifier usage at a high level.

4. Other procedure fee changes

   Additional urology procedure categories with notable fee shifts in office and facility settings. The section highlights changes affecting several common procedure families.

5. Other fee schedule changes

   Brief coverage of additional CMS policy updates beyond individual procedure fees. Topics include therapy caps, quality reporting, and e-prescribing incentives.

6. ASCs and HOPDs

   Discussion of ambulatory surgical center and hospital outpatient department payment updates for 2009. It covers procedure availability, outpatient policy changes, and site-of-service implications.

7. Official resources

   Links to the underlying CMS source documents for the final 2009 physician fee schedule and outpatient payment rules.