COVID-19 Relief Bill: Conversion Factor Increases Twice in One Week

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) 2021 Final Rule and 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) are effective Jan. 1, 2021, and both affect reimbursement.

But in a rare move, CMS increased the conversion factor (CF) in the MPFS twice in one week as a result of the COVID-19 relief bill, which added a hike of 3.75 percent.

For an update on the major CMS changes for 2021 that will affect your reimbursement under the Part B Physician Fee Schedule, tune in to the next live edition of Talk Ten Tuesdays, coming your way Tuesday, Jan. 12 from 10-10:30 a.m. EST. That’s when nationally recognized professional coder and auditor Terry Fletcher will join the broadcast to report on all the relevant details.

The live broadcast will also feature these other segments:

• RegWatch: Stanley Nachimson, former CMS career professional-turned-well-known healthcare IT authority, will report on the latest regulatory news coming out of Washington, D.C.
  
  
• SOAP Note: Shannon DeConda, founder of the National Alliance of Medical Auditing Specialists and a partner of DoctorsManagement, will provide a long-awaited update to the legendary SOAP (subjective, objective, assessment, and plan) note.
  
  
• News Desk: Timothy Powell, compliance expert and ICD10monitor national correspondent, will anchor the Talk Ten Tuesdays News Desk.
  
  
• The Coding Report: Laurie Johnson, senior healthcare consultant for Revenue Cycle Solutions, LLC, will report on the latest ICD-10 codes.
  
  
• TalkBack: Erica Remer, MD, founder and president of Erica Remer, MD, Inc. and Talk-Ten-Tuesdays co-host, will report on another thought-provoking topic that has captured her attention.