Six Georgia primary care physicians have filed a lawsuit alleging that CMS and HHS are violating federal laws, including the PPACA, by relying on the American Medical Association to set the value for various physician services compensated by Medicare, according to an iWatch News report.
The AMA's Specialty Society Relative Value Update Committee, also known as RUC, has 26 physician members that suggest and propose values for various procedures, tests and diagnostic imaging to CMS, the report said. CMS then pays physicians based on that Resource-Based Relative Value Scale. However, the physicians bringing the lawsuit said CMS, who has accepted more than 94 percent of the RUC's recommendations, is allowing Medicare payment rates to be dictated by the physicians who will receive those payments.
According to the report, the AMA said the RUC is only an independent group exercising its First Amendment right to petition the government and "who make recommendations on the value of the work and resources involved in patient care."
Read the iWatch News report on the lawsuit involving Medicare physician payments.
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The AMA's Specialty Society Relative Value Update Committee, also known as RUC, has 26 physician members that suggest and propose values for various procedures, tests and diagnostic imaging to CMS, the report said. CMS then pays physicians based on that Resource-Based Relative Value Scale. However, the physicians bringing the lawsuit said CMS, who has accepted more than 94 percent of the RUC's recommendations, is allowing Medicare payment rates to be dictated by the physicians who will receive those payments.
According to the report, the AMA said the RUC is only an independent group exercising its First Amendment right to petition the government and "who make recommendations on the value of the work and resources involved in patient care."
Read the iWatch News report on the lawsuit involving Medicare physician payments.
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