Since 2015 there have been three major changes to physician group reimbursements, according to VMG Health's "Annual Healthcare M&A Report 2022."
The organization laid out the three biggest changes:
1. The Senate passed the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act in April 2015, which removed the sustainable growth rate formula from the Medicare physician fee schedule conversion factor. The formula was then replaced with a fixed .5 percent annual increase through 2019.
From 2019 to 2025, individual physicians can still achieve payment increases through participation in the merit-based incentive program.
2. The annual increase was then reduced to 0.25 percent by the Balanced Budget Act of 2019.
3. On Nov. 2, CMS released the Medicare physician fee schedule final rule payment for 2022 with a conversion factor of $33.59, a decrease of $1.30 from the 2021 conversion factor of $34.89.