Physicians: Pay For Part B Drugs Cut, But Physicians Can Bill For More Services

Why This Topic Matters

It highlights payment and billing changes that can affect revenue, compliance, and charge capture across physician practices, especially in oncology and other settings that administer Part B drugs or provide newly recognized Medicare-covered services.

Article Sections

1. Part B drug payment changes

   Discusses Medicare’s 2005 physician payment rule and the overall direction of reimbursement changes for drugs covered under Part B. The section also addresses the broader rationale for the payment update and its expected effect on providers.

2. Newly coded drug-administration-related services

   Describes the introduction of additional billable services connected with administering drugs and notes that Medicare adopted new service coding for these activities. It also summarizes the payment basis used for those services.

3. Payment methodology and monitoring

   Explains the average sales price-based framework used for the updated drug payment system and mentions quarterly updating of payment data. The section also notes CMS monitoring activities related to access concerns.

4. Other physician fee schedule updates

   Covers additional changes in the physician fee schedule affecting selected services such as preventive screening, hospice-related evaluation, and psychological testing supervision. It places these items in the context of the broader 2005 Medicare update.