2006 proposed fee schedule - American Society of Clinical Oncology

Initially, only the physician work RVUs were resource-based,
and the PE and malpractice RVUs were based on average
allowable charges.
The physician work RVUs established for the
implementation of the fee schedule in January 1992 were
developed with extensive input from the physician community.
A research team at the Harvard School of Public Health
developed the original physician work RVUs for most codes in
a cooperative agreement with the Department of Health and
Human Services. In constructing the code-specific vignettes
for the original physician work RVUs, Harvard worked with
panels of experts, both inside and outside the government
and obtained input from numerous physician specialty groups.
Section 1848(b)(2)(A) of the Act specifies that the
RVUs for radiology services are based on relative value
scale we adopted under section 1834(b)(1)(A) of the Act,
(the American College of Radiology (ACR) relative value
scale), which we integrated into the overall PFS. Section
1848(b)(2)(B) of the Act specifies that the RVUs for
anesthesia services are based on RVUs from a uniform
relative value guide. We established a separate conversion
factor (CF) for anesthesia services, and we continue to
utilize time units as a factor in determining payment for
these services. As a result, there is a separate payment
methodology for anesthesia services.
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