Today’s issue of WorkCompRecap features the release of a new brief from NCCI on medical fee schedules that examines significant changes to reimbursement rules and rates made by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for 2021 that will likely impact workers’ comp.
Key areas of revision on CMS physician fee schedules included significant increases to payment rates for evaluation and management (E/M) services, and expansion of the services approved to be delivered via telemedicine. On the facility side, key updates included the expansion of treatments allowed in outpatient settings by removing procedures from the inpatient-only procedures list, and increased ambulatory surgical center (ASC) flexibility to offer inpatient services.