RVU shifts change payments, create fee schedule winners and losers in 2015

Why This Topic Matters

Medicare payment changes can alter reimbursement patterns across specialties and commonly billed services. Understanding the broad direction of these shifts helps practices anticipate fee schedule impacts and review affected service categories.

Article Sections

1. Physician payments

   An overview of the Medicare payment analysis and the time period covered by the article. It frames the discussion around specialties and services affected by 2015 payment updates.

2. Winners and losers by specialty

   A summary of specialty groups that were projected to perform better or worse than average under the 2015 payment changes. The section focuses on broad payment direction rather than detailed coding guidance.

3. Winners and losers by service category

   A review of selected service groups that were projected to see relative payment increases or decreases. The coverage includes evaluation and management, emergency medicine, critical care, ophthalmology-related services, cardiac procedures, and breast biopsy services.