What Is An Rvu And Why Is It Important

66984 rt rvu 20 85 line 2.
What is an rvu and why is it important. Yet rvus will remain important because they are a metric that everyone can wrap their arms around says swanson. In gaining an understanding of work relative value units wrvus it is important to understand the function of wrvus in qualifying physician productivity and in turn physician compensation. These resources include the physician s work the expenses of the. Rvus with answers that explain concepts important to physicians evaluating their contracts and to employers considering the performance metrics by which they evaluate and compensate physicians.
The fee for each service depends on its relative value units rvus which rank on a common scale the resources used to provide each service. Medicare establishes the base reimbursement levels for cpt codes. Overview frequently asked questions answers 1 why is it important to understand how rvus function. Why are rvus important to understand.
The rvu is multiplied. Relative value units rvus january 12 2015 medicare uses a physician fee schedule to determine payments for over 7 500 physician services. The rvu is multiplied. Since cpt 66170 has higher rvu the claim should have been billed with cpt 66170 rt on the first line and 66984 59 rt on the second line.
Medicare establishes the base reimbursement levels for cpt codes. Understanding rvus can be complex but it s important to know at the very least the basics of how this type of compensation is determined. If your salary and compensation depend upon wrvus it will be stated in your physician contract. 2 2 what is an rvu.
Serious procedures require a higher level of time skill and intensity compared to a typical well patient visit which means they would yield a higher rvu. Each cpt code has a relative value unit rvu assigned to it. Relative value units have also proven statistically valid as key performance indicators serving a vital role in budgeting expense allocation cost benchmarking and productivity measurements. But rvu data is only as reliable as an organization s medical coding.
66170 59 rt rvu 32 13 the payer processed the claim with a 50 reduction on the second line item and made a total payment of 1335 24. The number of rvus credited relates directly to the cpt codes and those relate to what s on the chart dr.