What Is Rvu Medical

Originally created as the principle unit of the rbrvs for cms rvus became the foundation of the medicare physician fee schedule mpfs as well as the basis of most commercial fee schedules.

What is rvu medical.

However if you can look beyond the calculations you ll find that the rvu is actually a good barometer of practice efficiency and patient complexity and it can provide helpful insights into performance says andy swanson vice president of consulting services at the medical group. These factors include rent costs in addition to the price of equipment and supplies. It is determined by assigning weight to such factors as personnel time level of skill and sophistication of equipment required to render patient services. A comparable service measure used by hospitals to permit comparison of the amounts of resources required to perform various services within a single department or between departments.

In medical billing claims are submitted to generate reimbursement and that reimbursement depends on relative value units. Historically a private group of 29 mostly specialist physicians the american medical association s specialty society relative value scale update committee ruc have largely determined medicare s rvu. When a provider. Prior to the implementation of the rbrvs in 1992 physicians set charge rates for the medical care they provided to patients.

The use of rvus to valuate medical services reformed healthcare payment systems. The sum of the three geographically weighted rvu values is then multiplied by the medicare conversion factor to obtain a final price. A major medical procedure requires more skill and more time so it will generate a higher rvu. When calculating a relative value unit rvu it s easy to become overwhelmed by the math.

The cost of maintaining or operating a medical practice. There are several factors that affect the amount that will actually be reimbursed.