The National Commission on Physician Payment Reform released a dozen recommendations to ultimately change how physicians are paid by public and private payers, starting with the premise that physician salary and expenses account for 20% of healthcare spending, but the decisions doctors make influence another 60% of that spending.

The Society of General Internal Medicine convened the commission a year ago to suggest new ways to pay the nation’s physicians that could improve patient outcomes and lower healthcare costs.  In the report released Monday, the commission concluded that the problems of physician payment are based on systemic issues, such as the traditional fee-for-service payment model, and problems pertaining specifically to Medicare, including the sustainable growth-rate formula to pay physicians and the operation of the Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC), which makes recommendations to the CMS. Read more here (may need free subscription).