Regarding the Specialty Society Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC) and HEALTH CARE COSTS [View all]

[patrice]

. . . . here's how that foxes and the hen-house thing works for the AMA et al:

http://www.medicinesocialjustice.blogspot.com/

"Edwards goes on, in great detail, to show the ways that the AMA maintains power – and makes lots of money – by controlling the RUC and the charge codes that are associated with it. And also describes, in detail, how it has a negative impact on primary care (“These manipulated prices are also a major reason why specialists are in oversupply in many parts of the country, while a worsening shortage of primary care providers threatens the whole health care delivery system. It’s precisely because the RUC has overvalued certain procedures and undervalued others that radiologists now make twice what primary care docs do in a year—that’s an average of $1.5 million more in a lifetime”) and why (“While the primary care docs make up roughly 40 percent of physicians nationwide, they have only 14 percent of the votes on the RUC.”). I would argue with the math, though; over a 30-year career every $100,000 of additional annual income results in an additional $3 million in lifetime income, and many sub-specialists earn several times $100,000 more than primary care doctors."