What Is Rvu In Healthcare
Rvus should be a part of the discussion says swanson.
What is rvu in healthcare. A physician wants a hospital or health system to purchase the practice. The services are classified under a nomenclature based on the current procedural. These three rvu factors are then multiplied by a geographical adjustment that creates the compensation level for the service in that exact location. Relative value units rvus january 12 2015 medicare uses a physician fee schedule to determine payments for over 7 500 physician services.
Once a physician is employed by the hospital he or she will probably be paid based on rvus says swanson. Prior to the implementation of the rbrvs in 1992 physicians set charge rates for the medical care they provided to patients. These resources include the physician s work the expenses of the. The geographically adjusted rvus are then multiplied by a conversion factor that converts the rvu into a dollar amount which determines the price that medicare or the hmo pays.
The use of rvus to valuate medical services reformed healthcare payment systems. Originally created as the principle unit of the rbrvs for cms rvus became the foundation of the medicare physician fee schedule mpfs as well as the basis of most commercial fee schedules. Doru paul md is triple board certified in medical oncology hematology and internal medicine. Before rvus were used medicare paid for physician services using usual customary and reasonable rate setting which led to payment variability the omnibus budget reconciliation act of 1989 enacted a medicare fee schedule and as of 2010 about 7 000 distinct physician services were listed.