Since 1992, Medicare has paid physicians and other clinicians through a fee schedule based on a resource-based relative value scale (RBRVS). With 33 years of hindsight, it is clear that the RBRVS-based Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) has not accomplished the lofty aspirations held by its proponents. The process of setting the MPFS has resulted in major misvaluations within the fee schedule, with many services overvalued. There is also growing recognition that value-based payment can only succeed with substantial improvements in the fee schedule, which remains the dominant source of payments to clinicians, even under alternative payment models.

Our three-part series published in Health Affairs Forefront explores several key issues in the MPFS:

• Modernizing The Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, Part 1: The Role Of A Technical Expert Panel
• Modernizing The Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, Part 2: Medicare Economic Index Updates
• Modernizing The Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, Part 3: Adding A Lookback To Budget Neutrality