Pay careful attention regarding evaluation and management services and the global surgery period

From international law firm Arnold & Porter LLP comes a timely column that provides views on current regulatory and legislative topics that weigh on the minds of today’s physicians and health care executives.The global surgical payment, which applies to many surgical procedures, such as cataract surgery, includes all necessary services normally furnished by a surgeon before, during and after a procedure. The global surgery payment applies in any setting, including inpatient hospital, outpatient hospital, ambulatory surgical center and physician office. Although the 2015 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule would have eliminated the 10-day and 90-day surgical payment periods — converting both to a “0-day” surgical period — the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), which was signed into law by President Obama on April 16, 2015, undercut those plans. Instead, MACRA now requires CMS to collect surgical care data and to re-evaluate surgical payment in the coming years.