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The Primary Care–Specialty Income Gap
- Thomas Bodenheimer, MD;
- Robert A. Berenson, MD; and
- Paul Rudolf, MD, JD
- From the University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94110.
IN RESPONSE:
We are glad that Dr. Rich has entered into a dialogue about the RUC's role in the multifactorial causation of the primary care–specialty income gap. He is correct that relative value units (RVUs) for E&M services have increased while values for some procedural codes have decreased. However, in its 2007 report to Congress, MedPAC states (1): “The three five-year [RUC] reviews, completed in 1996, 2001, and 2006, led to substantially more recommendations for increases than decreases in the relative values of services, even …
