ACS: 19 surgical organizations oppose CMS code G2211

Editor's Note

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) announced, on July 26, that it and 18 other surgical organizations sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), strongly opposing implementation of its code G2211.

The G2211 code is an effort by CMS to pay more for certain office visits, predominantly primary care physicians, despite the fact that the majority of codes for this type of care were increased in 2021, ACS says.

The code would inappropriately result in overpayments to those using it, which would penalize surgeons and all physicians because of a reduction in the Medicare conversion factor required to maintain budget neutrality under the 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule.

“A flawed G2211 code on top of a broken Medicare physician payment system would be incredibly harmful to the healthcare system and not serve the long-term interest of patients,” ACS says.