The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) is calling for revisions to be made to the 2017 Medicare physicians fee schedule that the CMS proposed and published in the Federal Register on July 15.
Despite the requested revisions, the AAFP agrees that the CMS is striving to make improvements to the payment methods that are used between patients and family physicians. With the new proposal, the Medicare physician fee schedule could increase primary care payment by approximately $900 million.
The AAFP’s requested revisions are for patient-centered services and care management, which need more clarifications. The organization also wants to see changes for telehealth services, appropriate use criteria, the Diabetes Prevention Program model and Medicare Advantage provider enrollment.
In addition, the CMS has stated that patients receive better health care when they get it from a team of professionals, who are under the leadership of a primary care physician that is planning their care.
"Proposed changes are estimated to result in approximately $900 million in additional funding to primary care physicians," Dr. Robert Wergin, board chair of the AAFP, said. "By better valuing primary care and care coordination, CMS is helping improve Medicare beneficiaries' access to services they need to stay well."
