A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released on August 31 calls for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to ensure that physician fees reflect efficiencies that commonly occur when services are provided at the same time (http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09647.pdf).
The report noted that the CMS had implemented a “multiple procedure payment reduction” policy for certain imaging and surgical services when 2 or more related services are given together (such as reading 2 computed tomography scans of a patient and being reimbursed twice for the prior medical history review component). This policy produced savings of about $96 million in 2006 for imaging services. The GAO said expanding the policy to reflect the actual work performed by physicians involving certain imaging services could reduce these payments by an additional $175 million annually.
The GAO recommended that Congress exempt any efficiency savings from federal budget neutrality requirements—which generally require any cost benefits gathered through physician fee reductions for one service to be redistributed across all other services—to ensure the savings accrue to Medicare.
Country-Specific Mortality and Growth Failure in Infancy and Yound Children and Association With Material Stature
Use interactive graphics and maps to view and sort country-specific infant and early dhildhood mortality and growth failure data and their association with maternal
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