Resource-Based Relative Value Scale (RBRVS): a useful tool for practice analysis

This system determines Medicare reimbursement in the USA but also may provide information to help analyze your practice. Since being implemented in 1992, the Resource- Based Relative Value Scale (RBRVS) has been the basis of all physician reimbursement from Medicare and increasingly is being used by other third-party payers to determine physician payments. The development of the RBRVS dates back to the 1980s and has evolved to the current system. Besides its use in physician reimbursement, by virtue of its nationwide usage, RBRVS has become a tool by which physicians can compare practice volume and efficiency, both with respect to other practices and within a single practice, to compare individual physicians. Although seemingly complex, the RBRVS provides a useful tool for physicians to understand their productivity, contracting, and reimbursement.