Reimbursement for Cardiac Procedures: Past, Present, and Future

Changes that are the consequences of the transformation of health care into an industry are reviewed. The primary focus is on the effects of this transformation and government funding policies on physician reimbursement for cardiac surgery. Also addressed are Relative Value Scales as the basis for physician reimbursement, physician payment reform under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989, impact of Medicare policy on surgical volume and surgeon income over recent years, provisions of the Medicare plan under current consideration, and impact of the Congressional-mandated resource-based practice expense relative value scale study currently under way.