In their own words. Practice expenses and the resource-based relative value scale

Dr. Opelka is a member of the College's CPT/RUC Committee, which makes recommendations about general surgery codes that should be added to, revised, or deleted from the CPT Manual. The committee also develops recommendations for the relative work values assigned to the general surgery services listed in the Medicare fee schedule. Because of his deep knowledge of the Medicare payment system, Dr. Opelka has frequently represented the College on panels convened by the federal government and in meetings with federal officials. In particular, he served recently on expert panels convened by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) to develop direct cost data for the purpose of calculating resource-based practice expense relative values, which are scheduled to be incorporated into the Medicare fee schedule over a four-year period beginning in 1999. Dr. Opelka also participated in meetings that the General Accounting Office (GAO) requested with the College as part of its review of the methods being used by HCFA to generate the new practice expense values. Following are some of Dr. Opelka's thoughts about the federal government's efforts in this area.