Over the twenty years that my main job has been to "follow Medicare," I've always noticed that RVU adjustments, or conversion factors, tend to lag inflation.
It's true, and it's severe. John Leppard of Capitol Policy Partners has published a graphic that shows slippage of RVU values (only half-heartedly adjusted for inflation) against the Consumer Price Index. Basically, normalize the Conversion Factor and you'll find it's dropped 50% against inflation beginning around 2002. That is, let's say Medidcare paid $120 for a 40 minute office visit in 2002, and the modestly raised amount it pays today has lost a lot due to inflation.
Here's the graphic:
See similarly a subscription article in 360Dx by Adam Bonislawski on the frozen lab fee schedule, since 2016, and how far it has lagged below inflation. Here.
