It took two decades for private payor contracts to erode the bottom line: plan on a 2+ year comeback-here's how, Part III.

This third part of a payor-contracting series focuses on the methods most payors utilize to create their reimbursement schedules. This article explores the world of Medicare RBRVS, RVUs, and even the rate-reducing budget neutrality adjuster with pointers on determining the best year of Medicare upon which to base your practice's next reimbursement rates. It tells you how to estimate the effects of a new schedule on the bottom line and by procedure, and provides a hint of contract language that needs to be modified to protect your rates--getting you ready for next issue's Part IV, in which far more contract language will be addressed.