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2006 proposed fee schedule - American Society of Clinical Oncology

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payment locality. In last year’s PFS final rule, we noted<br />

that we received many comments from physicians and<br />

individuals in Santa Cruz County expressing the opinion that<br />

Santa Cruz County should be removed from the Rest <strong>of</strong><br />

California payment locality and placed in its own payment<br />

locality. The county-specific GAF <strong>of</strong> Santa Cruz County is<br />

10 percent higher than the Rest <strong>of</strong> California locality GAF.<br />

Santa Cruz County is adjacent to Santa Clara County and San<br />

Mateo County. Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties have two<br />

<strong>of</strong> the highest GAFs in the nation. The published <strong>2006</strong> GAF<br />

for the Rest <strong>of</strong> California payment locality is 24 percent<br />

less than the GAFs <strong>of</strong> Santa Clara and San Mateo.<br />

Sonoma County is also part <strong>of</strong> the Rest <strong>of</strong> California<br />

payment locality. The county-specific GAF <strong>of</strong> Sonoma County<br />

is 8 percent higher than the Rest <strong>of</strong> California locality<br />

GAF. Sonoma County is bordered by Marin County and Napa<br />

County. Using published <strong>2006</strong> values, the payment locality<br />

that includes Marin and Napa counties has the fourth highest<br />

GAF in the nation, and is 13 percent higher than the GAF <strong>of</strong><br />

the Rest <strong>of</strong> California payment locality.<br />

We recognize that changing demographics over time may<br />

lead to payment disparities in particular circumstances. We<br />

rely upon State medical societies to identify and resolve<br />

these disparities because there are redistributive impacts<br />

within a State when new localities are created (or existing<br />

90

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