This article was revised on Dec. 11, 2023.
In response to the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a 2.5% increase in the 2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and an additional 1.25% increase for 2024. Unfortunately, the 2024 conversion factor will be $32.74, which is a decrease of $1.15 (3.4%) from the 2023 conversion factor of $33.89. The decrease is expected to materially impact reimbursement to Medicare providers.
Allergists are expected to experience a -1.9% reimbursement impact due to the lower 2024 conversion factor (which takes into account the 1.25% legislative increase). ACAAI will continue to advocate for CMS to work with Congress to mitigate or eliminate the effects of these cuts and identify longer-term solutions to this recurring issue.
The College’s Advocacy Council developed a spreadsheet comparing the 2023 and 2024 Relative Value Units (RVUs) and national payment amounts for specific allergy CPT codes. The national payment amount is calculated by multiplying the code’s RVU by the dollar conversion factor – $32.74 for 2024.
For more detailed information regarding the 2024 RVUs, please review the spreadsheet for all CPT codes and the spreadsheet for CPT codes commonly reported by allergists. In these two spreadsheets:
- Column F (Work RVUs) is of interest to allergists because health systems and employers often use this in their compensation formulas.
- Column J (Total Non-Facility RVUs) includes all three components – physician work, practice expense, and professional liability insurance – for services performed in the physician office setting.
- Column K (Total Facility RVUs) concerns services performed in the hospital setting. When a service is performed in the hospital setting (e.g., the hospital outpatient department or hospital-based clinic), the RVUs are reduced because the practice expense portion of the service is considered to be provided by the hospital.
RVUs for each CPTcode are published annually on the CMS website. RVUs are intended to reflect the relative value of physician services. The American Medical Association’s Relative Value Update Committee (RUC) proposes RVUs based on specialty society surveys and provides recommendations to CMS for consideration. CMS decides whether it will accept the RUC’s recommendations.
To get a better understanding of RVUs and how they can impact both your compensation and your practice, view the College’s webinar Making RVUs Work For You and visit our Relative Value Unit (RVU) Toolkit
The Advocacy Council: ADVOCATING FOR ALLERGISTS AND THEIR PATIENTS.
