Resource-Based Relative Value Scale

Resource-Based Relative Value Scale (RBRVS) is a scheme used to determine how much money doctors should be paid. It is currently used my Medicare (United States) in the United States and by several HMOs.

RBRVS gives every action a doctor makes (eg. procedures, referals, etc.) a relative value. This is multiplied by a conversion factor (in dollars) to find what the doctor should be paid.

History

RBRVS was created at Harvard in their national RBRVS study from December 1985 and completed on September 29, 1988. At that time, it was submitted to the HCFA (today the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS) to be used in the American Medicare system. In December of the following year, President George H. W. Bush signed into law the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989, switching Medicaid to an RBRVS payment scedule. This took effect in January 1, 1992. Starting in 1991, the American Medical Association updated RBRVS continually. As of May 2003, over 3,500 corrections have been submitted to the CMS.