Analysis of Variations in Anesthesia Payments: Time Units

摘要

The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) has proposed to eliminate paymentfor anesthesia time on a case-by-case basis under the Medicare Fee Schedule, and instead, include a measure of average time in the relative value unit (RVU). Currently, Medicare regulations stipulate that anesthesia time shall begin when the patient is prepared for induction and end when the anesthetists is no longer in personal attendance. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for the Medicare Fee Schedule recommends the elimination of case-by-case payment for anesthesia time for three reasons: administrative simplicity; consistency with payment for other physician services; and fewer opportunities for manipulating Medicare payments. The report provides empirical evidence on the ability of the current coding systems to explain variations in anesthesia time.