Medicare Conversion Factor Increase Effective July 1, 2015

As a result of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), the first of five scheduled 0.5% Medicare physician payment increases will go into effect July 1. This week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the updated RVU files reflecting the payment increase and new conversion factor, $35.9335 (previously $35.7547). The updated RVU files are located in a zip drive on this CMS webpage. Medicare Administrative Contractors are currently updating their payment systems in preparation for the payment increase. The next 0.5% payment increase is scheduled for Jan. 1, 2016 and subsequent 0.5% updates will take place at the beginning of each year through 2019.