This conversation starts out talking about the RUC, which is a committee run by the AMA, who has the sole source contract with CMS to figure out how many RVUs any given procedure or service is worth. There are roughly four times as many specialists on this RUC committee as PCPs. You might be able to see where this is going, but let me let our guest in this healthcare podcast, Brian Klepper, explain how primary care got trampled by the goings-on.
Brian Klepper is a longtime healthcare analyst and former CEO of the National Business Coalition on Health.
You can learn more by emailing Brian at bklepper@worksitehealthadvisors.com.
Brian Klepper, PhD, is a healthcare analyst, commentator, and entrepreneur. He is a Principal of Healthcare Performance Inc, a healthcare strategy and business development practice, and CEO/Principal of Worksite Health Advisors, a benefits consultancy focused on linking high-performance/high-impact healthcare organizations with purchasers. He founded and moderates a popular professional healthcare Listserv, Healthcare Hackers, which is a discussion forum on healthcare high performance and value and which has about 850 participating benefits managers, benefits advisors, and innovative vendors.
An active author and speaker, Dr. Klepper has provided healthcare commentary to CBS Evening News, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. He has published widely in healthcare trade and academic publications and in newspapers nationally.
Brian is a regular contributor to Employee Benefit News, the Health Affairs Blog, The Health Care Blog, The Doctor Weighs In, Kevin MD, and other expert healthcare blogs. He is a reviewer for Health Affairs and The Journal of Ambulatory Care Management.
He is an advisor to the Lundberg Institute and to several for-profit healthcare organizations.
In his spare time, Brian is an offshore sailor.
01:00 What is the RUC?
03:18 What is the goal of the specialists in the RUC?
04:32 Why health plans and not health systems?
06:55 “All this time, the hospital community was waging war against the HMO community.”
07:59 “The incentives that have been at play have been very formidable.”
08:23 “Primary care has developed a reputation for being the easy specialty … and it’s just not so.”