Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 9, September, 2024
5.
Physicians' Services
Reimbursement is based on the lesser of the amount billed or
the maximum Title XIX (Medicaid) charge allowed. Reimbursement rates (payments)
shall be as ordered by the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Arkansas in the case of Arkansas Medical Society v.
Reynolds.
For dates of service occurring July 1, 1994 through March 31,
2004, reimbursement rates are set at 66% of the Arkansas Physician's Blue
CrossBlue Shield (BCBS) Fee Schedule dated October 1, 1993.
For dates of service occurring April 1, 2004 and after:
A. Reimbursement rates are increased by
ten percent ( 10%) up to a maximum or benchmark rate
of eighty percent (80%) of the 2003 Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue
Shield (BCBS) fee schedule. For rates that as of March 31, 2004, are equal to
or greater than eighty percent ( 80%) of the 2003
BCBS fee schedule rate, no increase will be given. A minimum rate or floor
amount of forty-five percent ( 45%) of the 2003 BCBS
fee schedule rate will be reimbursed. For those rates that after the ten
percent ( 10 %) increase is applied are still less than the
floor amount, an additional increase will be given to bring these rates up to
the floor amount.
B. Reimbursement
rates are capped at one hundred percent ( 100%) of
the 2003 BCBS rate. Rates that exceed the cap as of March 31,
2004, shall be reduced in order to bring the rates in line with the cap by
making four equal annual reductions beginning July 1, 2005.
C. Adjustments to payment rates that are
comprised of two components, e.g., a professional component and a technical
services component, shall be calculated based on a combined payment rate that
includes both components. After determining the increase or decrease applicable
to the combined rate, the payment rate adjustment for each rate component shall
be apportioned as follows:
(1) Increases: If
one component rate, either technical or professional, exceeds the cap, the
entire increase shall be apportioned to the other component. If neither rate
component exceeds the cap, the increase shall be applied in proportion to the
component's ratio to the combined rate (i.e., if the technical component rate
is thirty percent ( 30%) of the combined rate,
then thirty percent ( 30%) of the increase
shall be applied to the technical component payment rate), up to the benchmark.
Once a component rate is increased to the benchmark, any remaining increase
shall be applied to the other component.
(2) Decreases: If one component rate, either
technical or professional, is at the floor, the entire decrease shall be
apportioned to the other component. If one component rate is above the cap, the
entire decrease shall be apportioned to that component. If both component rates
are above the cap, each component shall be reduced to the cap.
D. For dates of service beginning
September 28, 2006, the maximum reimbursement rate for fitting of spectacles
(procedure code 92340) is fifty-one dollars and twenty-two cents (
$51.22). The rate is based on eighty percent (
80%) of the sixty-four dollars and two cents (
$64.02), which is the 2006 Arkansas Physician's Blue
Cross/Blue Shield fee schedule rate.
E.
For dates of service beginning July
1, 2020, the maximum reimbursement rate for evaluation and management codes
were increased based upon a routine rate study conducted by DMS in the Fall of
2019.