The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has corrected its 2010 Physician Fee Schedule to include a change in the Medicare anesthesia conversion factor.

Effective Jan. 1, 2010, the national unadjusted anesthesia conversion factor will be $21.114 for services rendered between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28, 2010, reports the American Society of Anesthesiologists. Unless Congress intervenes, that 2010 anesthesia conversion factor will drop to $16.6109 as of Feb. 28, when "all of medicine will see a 21% Medicare payment cut due to the Sustainable Growth Rate formula," according to ASA, which is working with legislators and other physician groups to include a long-time SGR fix as part of the overall healthcare reform.

To download ASA's chart of updated 2010 Medicare anesthesia conversion factors by locale, click here.

Irene Tsikitas