Revised Medicare Fee Schedule Will Impact Endocrinologists

On December 1, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) final rule for CY 2021.

This rule updates payment policies and payment rates for Part B services furnished under the MPFS, as well as makes changes to the Quality Payment Program.

As a result of changes included in the rule, endocrinologists are expected to see a 13% increase in Medicare reimbursement while other specialties faced significant cuts. However, in an unusual move, Congress revised provisions of the Medicare regulation in its final year-end legislation to mitigate the cuts for some specialties.

Congress revised provisions of the Medicare regulation in its final year-end legislation to mitigate the cuts for some specialties.

Consequently, funding for the add-on complexity code for office E&M that would have been applied to essentially all endocrinology visits was removed and will reduce the amount of the previously predicted increase in total Medicare reimbursements for endocrinologists.

The Society has provided additional information on this reimbursement change at: www.endocrine.org/improving-practice/macra.