Despite adjusted rate of 33.9764, overall change is zero.
The President locked in a zero percent adjustment to your Medicare Part B payments but that doesn’t mean you’ve got the same rate.
The Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010, which was signed into law on Dec. 15, established a payment update for 2011 of zero percent. To cover the cost of the provision, Medicare had to modify a physical therapy provision that was in the proposed 2011 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule. “In addition, the final rule made other changes to the conversion factor, including a re-weighting of the work, practice expense and liability expense components of the relative value scale that resulted in a reduction in the numerical value of the conversion factor, even though the net impact of these changes is budget neutral,” according to the Nassau County Medical Society.
Since the physical therapy modifications in the new law required CMS to recalculate both the payment rates and the conversion factor, the actual conversion factor for 2011 is 33.9764. CMS has also made changes in GPCIs, so local adjusted 2011 rates may vary from 2010 rates.
Get 2011 accurate payment rates beginning Jan. 1 at SuperCoder.com or download the files from the CMS Website.