NCCS Comments on Proposed Physician Fee Schedule for 2014

NCCS submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on the proposed rule that addresses Medicare Part B payment policies for 2014. In its comments, NCCS commended CMS for its efforts to foster care management, including codes for transitional care management which were implemented in 2013. In the current proposed rule, CMS outlines a new service for complex chronic care management for implementation in 2015. Cancer survivors will likely be among those Medicare beneficiaries who will be provided complex chronic care management services.  Cancer has been transformed into a chronic condition for many seniors, who have additional chronic conditions that would combine to qualify them for the proposed new management service. NCCS applauded CMS efforts to improve health care payment and delivery through reforms of the physician fee schedule and recommended that CMS establish a care planning service, which could serve as the prerequisite for complex chronic care management services for cancer patients.

In addition, NCCS joined colleagues in the Cancer Leadership Council, including patient advocacy organizations and professional societies, in offering comments about payment limits on “misvalued services” and the proposed complex chronic care management service.