The Little-Known Decision-Makers for Medicare Physicians Fees

Uwe E. Reinhardt | The New York Times | December 10, 2010

Have you ever heard of the RUC? If not, you are not part of the small circle of cognoscenti who know what makes the world go ’round – at least in Medicare. To enter the circle, read on.

In my post last week, I described how Medicare pays physicians for the services they render Medicare beneficiaries. In a nutshell, for a particular service (e.g., a routine office revisit or an appendectomy or a heart transplant) that we shall call Z, Medicare pays a fee calculated with this formula...