Survey Represents Opportunity to Inform Policymakers and Payers of the Clinical, Operational, and Financial Challenges That Affect Their Practices and Bottom Lines
In early December, the ACA announced that they are joining 170 healthcare groups in support of a national study to collect data that will be used to accurately determine physician practice expenses. Information collected through the Physician Practice Information (PPI) Survey will help policymakers to better understand the costs associated with modern physician practices and to support physician payment advocacy.
The online PPI survey, which is being spearheaded by the American Medical Association (AMA) and conducted by Mathematica, an independent research group, is being randomly sent to more than 10,000 physician practices and individual providers throughout the country. In addition, ACA is contracting with Mathematica to field the Clinician Practice Information (CPI) Survey on behalf of the chiropractic profession alongside nine other non-MD/DO healthcare organizations. Chiropractors included in the random sample will receive email invitations to participate beginning in January 2024 and extending through June 2024.
Organizers note that the PPI/CPI Survey represents an opportunity for physicians to more fully inform policymakers and payers of the broad clinical, operational, and financial challenges that affect their practices and bottom lines. Recipients of this information will include members of Congress and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The need for updated data is significant: The Medicare physician payment schedule, maintained by CMS and used by many other payers, currently relies on 2006 cost information to develop practice expense relative values, the Medicare Economic Index and resulting physician payments. Factors such as inflation and the widespread use and costs of information technology services such as electronic health records are not reflected in the current values.
“We strongly urge chiropractic practices and individual doctors who are contacted to take the time and make the necessary staff arrangements to participate in the survey,” said ACA President Michael Martin, DC. “This is the chiropractic profession’s opportunity to contribute much-needed data that will support advocacy efforts to bring physician reimbursement more in line with actual practice expenses and patient care hours.”
For more information about the PPI/CPI, including who will be sampled, how and what data will be collected, what the data will be used for, and when the results of the survey will be known, visit www.acatoday.org/CPI.
Source: ACA Press Release, “National Practice Expenses Survey Will Include Chiropractors,” December 5, 2023
