Physician Fee Schedule In Brief

Payments for recalled devices: Medicare costs may be "substantial and burdensome" when physicians have to monitor patients with recalled devices, CMS says in the 2008 physician fee schedule 1proposal. The agency is asking for stakeholder input on how to identify these additional Medicare expenditures. It cites Boston Scientific's April recall of implantable defibrillators with potentially defective batteries as an example of a recall that entails added office visit and diagnostic test expenses. CMS is "exploring what actions would be appropriate in the case of these additional monitoring and related expenses as they relate to both the hospital outpatient and physician payment systems" (2"The Gray Sheet" May 28, 2007, p. 13)...