2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule Released
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released its proposed 2025 physician fee schedule regulations. The proposal includes an overall cut of -2.8% for the conversion factor. However, other provisions can bode well for palliative care and patients with serious illness. For example, the permanent telehealth code list may be expanded to include chronic care management, principal care management, and caregiver training; there are also provisions to delay any limitations on inpatient, critical care, and skilled nursing telehealth visits, and an allowance for audio-only interactions when the patient is incapable or refuses video. Additionally, several new codes for caregiver training may be added, and CMS is collecting feedback on traditional Medicare hybrid payment for primary longitudinal relationships.