TY - JOUR
T1 - Medicare Trends in Pathologist Participation, Service Utilization, and Payments
AU - Arvisais-Anhalt, Simone
AU - Araj, Ellen
AU - Park, Jason Y.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 American Society for Clinical Pathology, 2020. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/5/1
Y1 - 2021/5/1
N2 - Objectives: Quantifying pathologist participation in Medicare services may be informative for the prediction of future workforce needs and reimbursement. Methods: A retrospective examination was performed of pathologist professional (Part B) Medicare billings and payments from 2012 to 2017. The Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment Data: Physician and Other Supplier Public Use File was the primary data source. Results: From 2012 to 2017, there was an increase (3.7%; 11,215 up to 11,627) in pathologists providing Medicare Part B services. Female pathologists increased from 36.10% to 40.8% of pathologists during this time period. Normalized per pathologist, there was an increase (7.8%; 1,382 up to 1,489) in beneficiaries served as well as an increase (4.1%; 2,442 up to 2,543) in services performed. The top 10 pathology Part B services performed in a facility were all surgical pathology. Although services increased, the overall payment of Part B pathology services decreased (3%; $996,519,358 down to $966,615,856) during the study period. Conclusions: Although there is increasing pathologist participation in Medicare, the workload per pathologist has increased.
AB - Objectives: Quantifying pathologist participation in Medicare services may be informative for the prediction of future workforce needs and reimbursement. Methods: A retrospective examination was performed of pathologist professional (Part B) Medicare billings and payments from 2012 to 2017. The Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment Data: Physician and Other Supplier Public Use File was the primary data source. Results: From 2012 to 2017, there was an increase (3.7%; 11,215 up to 11,627) in pathologists providing Medicare Part B services. Female pathologists increased from 36.10% to 40.8% of pathologists during this time period. Normalized per pathologist, there was an increase (7.8%; 1,382 up to 1,489) in beneficiaries served as well as an increase (4.1%; 2,442 up to 2,543) in services performed. The top 10 pathology Part B services performed in a facility were all surgical pathology. Although services increased, the overall payment of Part B pathology services decreased (3%; $996,519,358 down to $966,615,856) during the study period. Conclusions: Although there is increasing pathologist participation in Medicare, the workload per pathologist has increased.
KW - Billing
KW - Medicare
KW - POSPUF
KW - Part B
KW - Pathology workforce
KW - Payment
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U2 - 10.1093/ajcp/aqaa167
DO - 10.1093/ajcp/aqaa167
M3 - Article
C2 - 33210114
AN - SCOPUS:85105763538
SN - 0002-9173
VL - 155
SP - 674
EP - 679
JO - American journal of clinical pathology
JF - American journal of clinical pathology
IS - 5
ER -