MEDPAC 2007 Report

Unfortunately, MedPac did not offer us much insight this year on the physician side, limiting their recommendations to:

The Congress should update payments for physician services in 2008 by the projected change in input prices less the Commission’s expectation for productivity growth.

There are indications in the Report that the growth in high tech imaging slowed in 2004-2005 from its recent historical levels. Next year's data should be particularly interesting to see if the reductions in Technical Component for same day scans and the DRA changes reduced or increased utilization. Increased utilization often comes from reduced fee per unit.

Physician practice expenses were expected to grow at 3.1%; including physician compensation, the increase is 3.0%. Physician productivity growth is estimated at 1.3%, suggesting an increase in the fee schedule of 1.7%. However, there does not appear to be any money for this and the conversion factor has been flat for three years now.