Physician Payment Reform: Congress's Turn

Excerpt

The Physician Payment Review Commission (PPRC), created by law in 1986 to advise Congress on reforming methods for Medicare payments to physicians, issued its third annual report on 28 April 1989. The major recommendations are briefly summarized in the following excerpt from the Commission's report (1):

To rationalize the pattern of payments by Medicare, the Commission proposes a Medicare Fee Schedule based primarily on resource costs. To limit beneficiary financial liability, it recommends limits on balance billing. To control the growth in expenditures, the Commission proposes the use of expenditure targets, increased research on the effectiveness of medical