CMS adds Obama recs into next year’s fee schedule.

The President signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) into law on March 23, but many practices haven’t yet noticed significant impacts from the legislation. In 2011, however, you could see huge boosts from it, because CMS has proposed incorporating many of the law’s features into next year’s Physician Fee Schedule.

On June 25, CMS released its proposed Physician Fee Schedule for 2011. The 1,250-page document, which will be published in the July 13 Federal Register, offers several advantages to medical practices, including bonuses for primary care physicians. “Improving access to preventive services and primary care is a top priority for HHS,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a June 25 statement. “The proposed rule is just one part of a broader effort we are making to improve the health status of Medicare beneficiaries.”

According to the proposal, primary care practitioners will benefit from a 10 percent bonus starting on January 1, as prescribed in the PPACA.

Practitioners who qualify will be doctors, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, or physician assistants with the primary specialty designation of family medicine, internal medicine, geriatric medicine, or pediatrics.

To qualify for the 10 percent bonus, the law stipulates that the primary care practitioners will have to bill at least 60 percent of their allowed charges as ‘primary care services,’ which are defined by E/M codes 99201-99215, nursing facility or rest home care codes 99304-99340, or home services codes 99341-99350.

“The rule we are proposing today is just one part of the Administration’s efforts to improve the health status of Medicare beneficiaries by expanding access to preventive services, and promoting early detection and prompt treatment of medical conditions,” said Jonathan Blum, deputy administrator and director of CMS’s Center for Medicare, in a...