Dive Brief:
- In response to demands for transparency, CMS released data on Medicare Part B payments for the first time on Tuesday. The data encompasses $77 billion of transactions by 880,000 physicians identified by name and office location.
- The data lists exact services for which physicians billed Medicare, the average payments for each service and the number of patients who received each service.
- According to Modern Healthcare, the most common Medicare services were the $70 and $100 doctor office visits. Evaluation-and-management services, which include five levels of visits, totaled $11 billion in 2012.
Dive Insight:
Although the AMA ultimately chose not to try to block the release, they continue to oppose it and represent the most common critique of the move. A “broad approach to releasing physician payment data will mislead the public into making inappropriate and potentially harmful treatment decisions and will result in unwarranted bias against physicians that can destroy careers,” said AMA president Ardis Dee Hoven.