| A plan to simplify the way physicians bill Medicare for evaluation and management (E/M) visits has been finalized and will begin to take effect next year, but the controversial payment component of the plan will be delayed until 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Thursday.  | The announcement coincides with the release of the 2019 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) and Quality Payment Program (QPP) final rule.
| | The proposed rule had sought to transform the current five-tier E/M system into one with blended payment rates for office and outpatient visits billed at the second through fifth levels. But some doctors balked at this change.
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CMS Administrator Seema Verma said in a call with reporters Thursday that the agency has finalized "the bulk" of the rule as proposed, but not all of it. Read the full story... | 
