GI practices to take serious hits on colon procedures in 2008

Why This Topic Matters

The piece helps readers understand whether upcoming Medicare policy changes may affect GI procedure reimbursement, patient access, and practice revenue planning. It is relevant for organizations trying to anticipate financial pressure, compare payment impacts across service settings, and prepare for annual fee schedule updates.

Article Sections

1. Physician fees

   Overview of Medicare physician fee changes affecting colonoscopy services in the upcoming year. The section discusses the broader reimbursement trend and provides examples of affected services in a general payment context.

2. Advocacy work

   Statements about professional society advocacy efforts related to Medicare payment policy. The section references organizational responses to federal reimbursement changes and legislative or regulatory outreach.

3. ASC payments

   Ambulatory surgery center payment changes for colonoscopy-related services. The section compares payment movement across grouped procedure codes and discusses the broader implications for GI facilities.

4. Physician work value changes

   Discussion of CMS updates to physician work values and practice expense methodology. The section notes that certain colorectal-related codes were affected by a periodic review process.

5. Determine your practice's financial impact

   A general workflow for estimating practice-level reimbursement effects using CMS fee schedule inputs. The section outlines a multi-step approach for analyzing volume, RVUs, geographic adjustments, and conversion factors.

6. How to calculate your 2008 Medicare fees

   A formula-style reference for combining RVU components and geographic indices into an adjusted Medicare fee calculation. The section presents the calculation framework in broad terms.

7. Resources

   Links and source references for CMS fee schedule materials and ambulatory surgery center payment information. The section points readers to external resource documents relevant to the article's topic.