The Washington Post article, titled “How a secretive panel uses data that distorts doctors’ pay,” the author alleges that relative value unites primarily increased since 2003 leading to an increase in Medicare spending, which the AMA says is false. The work values for office and hospitals increased in 2007 based on the AMA/Specialty Society RVS Update Committee’s recommendation and again in 2010 to account for budget neutrality when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services eliminated payment for consultations, according to the report.
The AMA statement also notes reduction in time and valuation for 500 physician services which resulted in redistribution of $2.5 billion to primary care and other physician services.
Finally, AMA notes that the Committee isn’t secretive and has implemented a process to improve transparency.
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