9.6% in 2020 Anesthesia Reimbursement from Medicare
With the publication of the 2021 PFS Final Rule on December 1, the nation’s anesthesiologists and anesthetists were left in dismay, if not disbelief, having been dealt a significant financial setback. The national anesthesia CF for 2021 has been set at 20.0547, down from the 2020 CF of 22.2016. This represents a 9.6 percent decrease in potential anesthesia revenue—from a conversion factor perspective. The exact anesthesia CF will vary based on your practice location. To determine the anesthesia CF in your area, you can visit the following link: https://www.cms.gov/Center/Provider-Type/Anesthesiologists-Center.
This is the second year in a row that Medicare has reduced the reimbursement to the Anesthesia specialty.
Survey Shows Physicians Limiting Practice Access for Medicare and Medicaid Patients
More than 50 percent of physicians have limited access to their practice for Medicare patients or are planning to do so in the future according to a recent survey commissioned by the Physicians Foundation. In addition, 26 percent of survey respondents have stopped seeing additional Medicaid patients at this time. Physicians cite rising operating costs, time constraints, and diminishing reimbursement as the primary reasons for not accepting additional Medicare and Medicaid patients.
The survey also indicates that physician morale is low with more than 75 percent of respondents being pessimistic about the future of the medical profession. Physicians are not uniform in their opinions, with younger, female, employed, and primary care physicians being generally more positive about the profession.
The survey, conducted this spring by Merritt Hawkins via email, was sent to more than 600,000 physicians across the United States with 13,575 responding.
