Federal investigators say the current process to review and recommend how Medicare pays doctors leaves it susceptible to inaccurate reporting and conflicts of interests.
report (PDF) released Thursday by the Government Accountability Office found “weaknesses” in the survey data used by the American Medical Association/Specialty Society Relative Value Scale Update Committee, also known as RUC.
Imagine a scenario in which Exxon Mobil recommends to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) how much carbon dioxide that oil and gas companies should be allowed to emit -- and the EPA approves those recommendations 90 percent of the time. We all know that industry often has outsized influence over the regulatory process, but having 90 percent of its recommendations rubber-stamped would be outrageous.
