CMS Summary of Recent Physician Fee Schedule Policy Changes

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Medicare Learning Network recently published a summary of changes made in the 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. These include the addition of several HCPCS codes to the list of payable telehealth services (some of which will remain permanent for use in rural areas after the public health emergency) (pp. 1-2); and new codes for prolonged office/outpatient Evaluation and Management (E/M) visits (pp. 5-6) and an add-on code to report office/outpatient E/M visit complexity (pp. 6-7). All changes are effective January 1, 2021.

A fact sheet describing these and other features of the 2021 Physician Fee Schedule can be found here. Visit the Medicare Learning Network Connects webpage to find more resources on CMS programs and policies.